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HISTORY 




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ST. LOUIS CATHEDRAL 

- OF 

NEVV^ ORLEANS. 

— BY - 

LOUIS J. LOEWENSTEIN, 

Reporter Times- D(!inocrat. 



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'r^W-j' Publisliert by The Times-Democrat, 

fe.^"^ New Ovloaus, 1882. 




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. HfS-M 
Dr. CARL. D. LUDWIQ, 

DENTAL SURGEON, 

172 CANAL STREET, 

Opposite the Grand Opera House. NEW ORLEANS. 

JAMES J. REISS. 

W^HOLESALE 

CONFECTIONER, 

VERMICELLI, MACARONI 

— AND- 

STEAM CRiVCKER BAKERY. 

Proprietor Norman & Reiss' Extract of Coffee, 

NOS. 93 AND 95 DECATUR STREET. 

NEW ORLEANc*, LA. 

STAR AND CRESCENT 

AND — 

From New Orleans to all Texas ami California Points. 
Xhroiig-h Xi-Jiiii» and Sleepers to HOUJSbJXOIN, 
DAIL'K' at 1J3 noon. 

For further infonnation apply to 

CHAS. A. WHITNEY & CO., ManagerR, 

New Orleans. 



ADVERTISMENTS. 



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21 CANAL STMBET, near the landing^ 

NEW ORLEANS, LA. 

ENTERPRISE 



|teai |af,|, |liai„ pm, | 




-AND— 






».w«'«^%f-^ '*n^ % 



TOULOUSE, ST. LOUIS, BASIN AND FRANKLIN STS. 
HEA D OF OLD BASIN, . 

OFFICE — 178 Toulouse Street, Branch Office 33 Carondelet Street, 
NEW ORLEANS, LA. 

PROPRIETORS. 

JAMES DEMORUELLE. CASPAR CUSACHS. 
DEALERS IN 

Himc, lladtcr, Portland |} lo^endale gemcnt, 



White and Yellow Sand, Hair, Laths, Fire Clay, Tiles, 

Shells, Slates, Yellow and Red Ochre, Lamp Black, Alum, Glue, and all 

kinds of Bricks and Building Materials, also Sugar Lime and Charcoal. 

ISOToixlouse Htreet, Oor. Franklin, Old Ba.Si*iu, 

NEW ORLEANS. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



SEAL PRESSES. 



BAND DATERS. 



^Tiryili^ 



MANUFACTURERS OP 



RUBBER HAND STAMPS 

OF EVERY DESCRIPTION. 
116 ORAVIEXi «T., JNe>v Orleaiis- 



RIBBON STAMPS. 



SELF INKERS. 



W. B. SCHMIDT. 



V. M. ZIEGLER. 



JAS. J. SCHMIDT. 



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»\\\w\\\\%\sss<nwsns«s\"^«^%wS' mvwi 



vA\'>s\\-^\\ ^*^^S^S!i^\\A^\\^v.^v^ ■sWwkw 'i\\\s'OT,^s< ^\s\\V\w\v 7«v\v\\s;<\\> ^^ 



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IMPORTERS OF 



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Nos, 49, 51, 53 <& 55 SOUTH PETERS STREET, 



NEW ORLEANS. 



F. P. McFARLAND. RAOUL DUPRE. 

PROPRIETORS 
South Peters, Notre Dame and Fulton Streets, New Orleans. 



ADVERTISMENTS. 



JULIUS SCHWABACHER, 

Room 47—126 Washington St., Chicago, 111. 



MORRIS SCHWABACHER, 
New Orleans, La. 



w^m. 



w% ^ «<s4i> l5s('S-' _ ^, 

Successor!* I<> Kclanabsiolier tV Ilii-NClii, 

General Commission Merchants, 

PROVISIONS AND GRAIN, 

66 to 72 Magazine Street and 91 to 93 Poydras Street, New Orleans, La. 

Liberal Cash advances made on consignments to our address in New Orleans or 
to that of our Mr. Julius Schwabacher, Chicago, who solicits also CASH orders for 
the purchase and shipment of provisions, etc. 



JOHN T. MOORE, Jr. 



JOS. M. RICE. 






ISSiUft 



—AND- 






No. 37 & 39 Tchoupitoulas Street, 



P. 0. BOX 1806. 



Between Poydras and Gravier Streets. 



NEW ORLEANS, LA. 



S©^.©t f®^ ^©@t©tt©i^''g ^i%%©sg- 



R. S. HOWARD. 



JAS. FLOWER- 



HOWARD, FLOWER & CO., 
COMMISSION MEEOHANTS 

88 MAGAZINE STREET, 

NEW ORLEANS, LA. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



SKEDS. PLANTS. FLOWERS. 
7 Camp Street and 602 MfUfaztTief 

FLORAL BAZAR, | FLORICULTURAL ESTABLISHMENT, 

602 illAOAZIKE .STRKET, I 976 MACAZISfE STREET, 

NURSERIES, 
Laotver Eine, Pearl, Clinton and St. Charles otreet, near Carrollton. 

Country Order.s from Planters and Commission Merchants promptlj^ attended to. 



J. O. SCANNELL. 



J. A. LAFAYE. 



mti%^ <ig t^M.wj^'^: 



136 GRAVIER STREET, 



P. 0. BOX 2595. 



NEW ORLEANS. 



Bet. Camp and St. Charles. 



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]L®3 oj&nr^Si m^'mj^im'w. 



NEW ORLEANS, LA. 



HEADQUARTERS FOR 



FINE AND FASHIONABLE 











^\*»»^' 



:»*»»-■ SG^ 



Ma-fe-feimes. ©il ©l©tli© 



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CARPETS AND RUGS. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



GEO. T. SCHILLING, 

157, 159 - CANAL STREET, - 157,159 

A SPLENDID 



v^. 



FANS 



OSTRICH, MAR4B0UT, PEACOCK, SILK AND SATIN, MOUNTED 

IN PEARL, SHELL, IVORY, AMBER, EBONY, VIOLET 

WOOD AND RUSSIAN LEATHER. 

^SATCHELS^ 

IN PLUSH, SEAL SKIN, ALLIGATOR, ETC., ETC. 

^ TOILET AND DRESSING C ASES ^ 

MOUNTED IN IVORY, SHELL, CELLULOID AND RUBBER. 

COMBS 



THIS LINE OF GOODS IN IVORY AND SHELL IN ALL FORMS. 

ALSO 



And a Genei'al Stock of 
TOO EXTENSIVE TO PARTICULARISE. 



MILLINERY DEPARTMENT, 

BONNETS AND HATS, For Ladies and Children in all the Latest 

Styles. 
FEATHERS AND PLUMES, contributed by the birds of every clime. 

FLOWERS of every hue, species and size. 
RIBBONS in every shade and all qualities. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



MANUFACTURERS OF — 

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mMm i@§ii, 



13 CHARTRKS STREET, 

NEW ORLEANS, LA. 



506 CAMP STREET. 

Magazine Market— Stalls Nos. 90 and 91. French Market— Only Brea<l 
Stall in the Fruit Market. New Orleans, La. 





F. ROUSE. \VM. MORTON 

ROUSE & MORTON, M 

(Siiccrssors to Jolan Mahonoy,) 



PATTERSON STREET, near 2cl District Ferry Landing, Algiers. 

Steam Tngs, Schooners. Yachts, Row Boats, Yawls, etc.. Repaired and 
Built to order. 

LIGHT AND HEAVY FORGING. 
Near 2d T>i strict Ferry, Algiers, oth Distinct, N. O. 

Orders solicited and promptly tilled. 

R. FORESTER, Owner. J. FORESTER, Manager. 

ORDERS RECEIVED BY TELEPHONE. 

Coasst Woi'lf, Jol>l>iii<2: ^ I^iiixi j>iiig- 

Office, Water Street, Between Notre Dame and Julia, New Orleans. 
Ijandiiig, head of Canal street, or Canal street Ferry Lauding Algiers. 

SIGNAL CALLS by any of the Forriea or Tugs In the Harbor— Two Long anrt Two Short 
Thus : 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



PHOPRIETOK 
DEALER IN 

LUMBER SAWED TO ORDER. 

Pattersou, uear Lavcrgue Street, Algiers. 



iiviCz^scoT :b.-a^:izde3I2"S'. 



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-MANUFACTURING- 



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7 CAROMDELET W^ALK. 

Head of Old Basin. NEW ORLEANS. 



MANUFACTURERS' AGENTS, 

—And Dealers in— 

^teaim and Mand Fire EngineSf Mook and Ladder 
Trucks^ Fire Mom^ Mtc.^ Btc. 

Sole Agents for Babcok Fire Exfingnisliers and Chenncal Engines, 

120 COMMON STUEET, Up-stairs, New Orleans, 



MISS Aii/IGE A. SMITH 






s^ - 






111 CANAL STREET, HEW OELEANS. 



J. S. SCH^S^AB, 

ATTORNEY AND COUNSELLOR AT LAW, 

28 CARONDELET STREET, 

MANAGER NEW ORLEANS COLLECTING AGENCY. 
l^^Special Pains Taken for the Collection of Bad Debts. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



14 o.a.m:f street, 

NEW ORLEANS. 

LEHMAN BROS, LEHMAN, DURE & CO. 

New York. Montgomery, Ala. 

Jotton Jactor*!) and ^ommid^ion IJerchant^, 

COR. GRAVIER AN^ BARONNE STREETS, 
New Orleans, La. 

K. & M. LEHMAN, H. ABRAHAM. > ^^ .. , 

New York. M. STERN \ ^®^ Orleans. 

J. H. ME:NrAnr), 
HORTICULTURIST, 

COR. CARONDELET AND DELORD STS., N. O. 
Floral Decorations and Bouquets to made order. Gardens laid out. 



Geo, eJ. Friedrichs, D, D, 8,, 

155 ST. CHARLES STREET, CORNER GIROD, 

New Orleans. 



—AND— 



P. I. 



DErTT-A.!!. sxjK.a-Eonsrs, 

142 CARONDELET STREET. 



ADVERTISMENTS. 






!>«!-<^;' 






PATTERSON STREET, 
Two blocks below the Second District Ferry Landing, ALGIERS, LA. 
f^F^Work executed in tlu^ best manner. Orders proini)tly attended to. 



DOCK A.-ND SHIP YARDS IN ALGIERS. 

FIFTH DISTRICT. 

OFFICE im C03I3IOy STREET, NEW ORLEANS. 

I^WIII give special attention to Docking, Hauling Out and Repairing 
aljl kinds of Steam and Sailing Vessels, upon reasonable terms. 



CHARLES C. LANDRY. 




-AND DEALER IN- 




A Y A/K^ti 



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431 & 433 DRYADES STREET. 



NEW ORLEANS, LA 



10 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



MANUFACTURERS OF 



NEW ORLEANS, LA 



MARINE 



MWi 



A. BRADY & CO., 



II 



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ALGIKRS, LA. 



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Proprietors. 



Vessels, Steamboats aud Barnes Docked on tlie most liberal Terms. 
Contracts for New Work entered into. 

Office No. 48 Carondelet Street, corner Union St., 

NEW ORLEANS. • 



ROBERT ROSS. 



E. M. MARTINEZ. 

\mmm' 



F. R MMTIISZ 



Wholesale Dealer and Manufacturer of 



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MMM 



9 MAGj^ZIlSrE STREET, 



NEW ORLEANS. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



11 



Ex-Gov. D. B. PENN, President. RUFUS G. LYNCH, Secretary. 

No, 9 C 4RONDELET STREET. 

Incorporated under the laws of the State of Louisiana. Policies paid 
at marriage. Call at office or send for circulars. 









ICI1t3^£)]C 



afclccii£l4 



No. 81 3IAGAZINE STREET, 

Are constantly in receipt of large quantities of 

OLMOMAMG AMINE ANIJ> € MEM SB, 

Also of Dry Salted and Smoked Meats, Lard, Hams, Mess Pork, Corn 

Meal, Grits, Flour, California Beans, Etc. For Sale in lots 

to suit purchasers. 





W 






SHIPS AND STEAMBOATS SUPPLIED, 

IbTo. 3 I^ront arid. 12 I^-o-lton Streets, 

Bet. Gravier and Common, 



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i2 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 






Produced 
by fernieii- 
tation ill the 
hottle. 

The only 
natural pro- 
cess. 

Not strength- 
ened with spirits 
like most foreign 
•vines. 

Not flavored 
in any man- 
ner, but ah- 
Koliitcly pure 



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vl:i^st Extra 0^( 



530 WASHINGTON ST S.F. CAL. 



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bO 

ea 

n 

C(3 

xi 
bo 

•Awa produces ^ 

HO headache, ^ 

even when ^ , . . , . , , , . 

Received Silver Medal in competition with 

indiscretely ^^ominent French Champagnes at Culinary Aif California 

„c„,l Exhibition, New York, May, i88a. „, 

'*'^*"- ^ CliMiipagne. 

Don't call for Ca!ifornia Champagne merely, but state the brand, " ECLIPSE," or firm name. 
We are the ONLY producers of Natural Sparkling Wines on the Pacific Coast. 



SO 



ft 



ty' and 
freight be- 
ing about 
88 per case 
on imported 
champagne, 
enables u b 
t o offer a n 
equally good 
\v i n e at a 
much less 
rate. 

We guard 

you against 

i m p o sition 

of parties 

w li o are 

foisting a 

charged o r 

a g a s wine 

on the mar- 

k e t , under 

the name of 



50 Customhouse St., New Ovleans, 



9 



Mission (Maxets, 
Zinlimdel, 
Hock. 
Riesling, 



Gutedel, 

Tokay, 

Altar Wine, 

Pure Grape Brandies, 



Mission Porta, 
Slierries, 
Angelica, 
Sweet Muscat, 



F. HOLLANDER & CO., Agents. 



HISTORY 



— OF THE 



St, %onm Catlieir: 



OF NEAA^ ORLEANS. 



REPORTER TIMES-DEMOCRAT. 



PUBLISHED BY 

THE TIMES-DEMOCRAT. 



NEW ORLEANS: 

1882. 



^ 



TO THE PUBLIC. 



The "History of the St. Louis Cathedral of NewOrlejius" was originally 
intended as a sketch for a Sunday edition of the Times-Democrat, but 
its length precluded its being published in thatjournal, either as a whole 
or serially. It was, therefore, concluded to issue it in pamphlet form. 

The sketch is intended to be purely historical, and, though relating to 
a religions institution, was not written as a religious sketch per se. 

liespectfuUy, 

LOUIS J. LOEWENSTEIN. 






[i^tory oi the Jt. poui^ ^athedral, 

NEW ORLEANS. 



The reuovatiou of the St. Louis Cathedral, thanks to tlie liberality aud 
generosity of anonymous friends, is now completed, and the sacred edi- 
fice, sanctified with the reminiscences of years, stands forth in majes- 
tic sublimity clothed in a beautiful new garb. It now presents an 
appearance worthy of a sanctuary typical of the power and grandeur of 
the Catholic church. The donation of the sum of money by means of 
which the venerable structure was enabled to assume its new garb, is 
involved in an air of mystery. Last spring. Rev. Father Rouxel, Ad 
ministrator of the Cathedral, received a notification from M. Certe, 
Secretary of the Propagation of Faiih, in Paris, stating that he had 
at his disposition 25,000 francs ($5000) for the Cathedral, donated 
by an anonymous individual for the purpose of repairing aud renova- 
ting the Cathedral. Furtlier than this nothing is known regarding 
the donation, even by the clergy tliem themselves, the modest giver 
does not wish to become known, and, therefore, the world is compelled 
to admire his or her noble act without being able to give a token 
of its appreciation. The improvements were made under the super- 
vision of Mr. A. Castaiug. the architect, and the painting and orna- 
mentation under that of Mr. Pescia. 

The History of St. Louis Cathedral is almost the history of Ne\v 
Orleans, and certainly that of the establishment of the Catholic church 
in Louisiana. In giving a sketch of the structure we must, therefore, go 
back to the foundation of the city and follow up the incidents antecedent 
to the erection of the present building. / In 1717, one year before the 
foundation of New Orleans, the Capuchins of the province of Cham- 
pagne in France, seizing time by the forelock, secured for their body 
exclusive ecclesiastical jurisdiction ov^er New Orleans and a large por- 
tion of the territory of Louisiana. In 1718, Bienville, wlio was for 
a second time appointed Governor of the French colony, founded New 
Orleans. With his loyal and valiant sword he traced the site to be 
occupied by the Paris Church, and designated the ground upon the 
left upon which to build the Presbytery. Charts issued in 1727 indi- 
eate that that site is the one upon which the Cathedral now stands, 
and that the ground on the left is the rectangle comprised between 



16 History of the St. Louis Cathedral, 

Chartres (formerly Concle), St. Anne and Royal streets and St. 
Antoine alley, the later named in honor of Father Antoinr, the first 
curate of the church. A wooden and adobe structure was erected under 
the auspices of the French Government, and in honor of the Kinjj: of 
France, named the Church of St. Ignatius, about 1720, from which time 
date the archives of the Catholic Church in New Orleans. 

In January, 1731, Father Charlevoix, a Jesuit missionary, reached New 
Orleans from Canada by way of the Illinois and the Mississippi rivers, 
and in his description of the infant city he sums it up as consisting of 
one hundred cabins, placed without much order, a large wooden ware- 
house, two or three dwelling Ikhiscs that would not have adorned a vil- 
lage, and a miserable storehouse which had been at first occupied 
as a chapel — a shed being now used for tliis puriiose. The population of 
the city did not then exceed 300 persons. 

On the eleventh of September, 1733, a feai'f ul tornado or hurricane de- 
vastated the colony and played particular havoc with the little city. The 
hospital and thirty houses were swept from tlie ground as though made 
of cardboard. Tliree vessels tliat lay in the river at the time were 
driven on shore, and houses and crops on the plantations, above and 
below the city, irreparably ruined. The wind had no respect. for the 
sacred, as it blew into atoms the little insignilicaut parish church, the 
first place of worship ever erecteA in Louisiana. This terrible visitation 
plunged the colonists into such misery and despair, that many attempted 
to leave the colony, and it was long before tlie inhabitants recovered 
from tlie calamity. The ruined portions of the little city were rebuilt, 
and in 1734 or 1735 a new aiul more substantial parish church was erected— 
this time of brick — which served the purposes of the community for over 
sixty j^eais; the vc^nerable building surviving the ravages of viiiie, but 
succumbing at last to the flames. 

The territory of Louisiana at that time was divided into three grand 
ecclesiastical districts: The first extending from the month of tlie Mis- 
sissippi to the Illinois, was entrusted to the care of the Capuchins, who 
were the first to administer to the spiritual wants of the people of New 
Orleans. The bare-footed ('armelites hnd jurisdiction over tlu^ second, 
which included the districts of Mobile, liiloxi and the Alibanu)ns. The 
country, watered by the Wabash and Illinois rivers, formed the last of 
the three divisions, which was the especial care of the Jesuits. Churches 
and chapels were constructed at convenient points throughout the colony . 
Heretofore, the only means of worship was to assemlile under the shelter 
of trees before large wooden crosses. Tlie spirit of intolerance among 
the colonists was very strong, and this was encoinaged by an e lict of 
Governor IJienville's, issued in Marcli, 1734, which prohibited the exer- 
cise of any other religion than the Catliolic, and Jews, especially, were 
ordered to be expelled from the colony as eiuunies of the christian name. 

In th(! fall of the same year two Capuchin friars or nujuks of Uw Order 



of the, (My ()f New Orleans. 17 



of St. Francis, reached New Orleans from France, in tlui company of Dr 
Lacliaise and PerranU, a])pointeil commissioners to examine and report 
upon tlie woi'k done by tlie agents and clerks of the India Company in 
Louisiana. De Lachaise was a ne]iliew of Father Francois de 
Lachaise, a celebrated Jesuit, wlu), as the Confessor of Louis 
XIV, was llrni anil consistent enough to witlihold abs'dution 
fi'oni tlie royal penitent until he would either abandon or niairy 
the celebrated Madame de Maintenon. ?tlany of tlie hest fami- 
lies of our city and State bear in tlieir veins tiie blood of de Lachaise, the 
commissioner. The India Compiuy, under whose auspices Louisiana 
was colonized and New Orleans founded, entered into an agreement, in 
this yejir (1734), with the Order or the Jesuits, by which cuiates and 
missionaries were obtained for the upper part of the province, where 
priests wei'e most in demand. 

A new treaty was entered into with the Jesuits on the twentieth of 
February, 1726, annulling that of 1724, stipulating an allowance of 1800 
livres for the services of Father Beaubois, the Superior of the Jesuit mis- 
sionaries, who had come over from France with them in 1734, and divi- 
ding a gratilication of 3000 livres anumg the latter for their past services 
Father Petit, the Superior of the Jesuits, was permitted to reside in New 
Orleans, but could not exercise any ecclesiastical functions witho'it the 
permission of the Superior of tlie Capuchins, under whose spiritual juris- 
diction New Orleans was placed. He was to be furnished by the company 
with a chapel, vestry room and a house and lot, for his accommodation 
and for the temporary use of such Jesuits as might arrive in New Orleans 
on their way to their posts in the northern portion of the territory. 
The .Jesuit missionaries were conveyed to Louisiana at the expense of 
the India Company, and they were each paid a yearly salary of (500 livres 
($133 33) with an extra annual allowance of 200 livres ($44 44) for the first 
live years. Each missionary received at the start an outfit of 450 livres 
($100) and a chai)el, and at each mission either money or goods were fur- 
nished to defray tlie expense of building- the chapel and presbytery. The 
Jesuit lay bi others received their passage and a gratilication of 150 
livres ($33 33), but no salary. Tiie house and chapel constructed for the 
Superior in New Orleans, was situated upon a concession of ten arpents 
of land fronting on the river a little above what is now Canal street. 
The Jesuits improvcMl the front of their land with a plantation of the 
myrtle wax shrub, and remained upon it until tlieir expulsion in 1764. 
Arrangements of a similar character were made with the Capuchins 
and the tieaty with the Carmelites having, for some reason unknown, 
been cancelled, tlie ecclesiastical district heretofore under their charge 
was added to that of the Capuchins, aTul thus the latter obtained spiritual 
supervision over the entire lower portion of the territory. Father 
Bruxo, their Superior, was appointed Vicar-General by the Bishop of 
Quebec, in whose diocese the territory of Louisiana was then iuclud- 
3 



History of the St. Louis Cathedral, 



ed. He acted as curate of the p irisli, with the assistance of two 
mouks as vicars. A third monk was chaplain to tlie military force in 
New Orleans, and another at the Balize. Curates were also stationed at 
Mobile and Biloxi in place of the deposed Carmelites, and at Cotes d'Alle- 
mands (German Coast) and Natchitoches. A monastery, erroneously 
called convent, was erci ted for the Capuchins, resident in New Orleans, 
on the square below the church, the site of the present presbyteiy. 

On the thirteenth of September, 1726, an agreement was also made with 
two URSULiNE NUNS of the Convent of Rouen, nanied Marie FranQoise 
Tranchepain, known as Sister St. Augustin, and Marie Anne le Boulau- 
ger, know^i as Sister St. Augelique,with the assistance of Mother Catharine 
Bruscoli, of St. Amaud, and four otlier nuns of tiieir order, to take cliargeof 
the education of the young girls of the new colony and to nurse the sick in 
the hospital. According to contract they were to reside permanently in 
Louisiana ; were to be transported with four servants, at the cost of the 
company, and to receive as a gratuity, before their departure, the sum of 
5001ivres. The Ursuline nuns embarked with Jesuit missionaries in a com- 
pany ship, and arrived in New Orleans in the summer of 1727. Tliehospital, 
then situated at the corner of Chartres and Bienville streets, was put in 
possession of the niins upon their arrival, and they resided in it until a 
moi'e convenient dwelling could be built for them. The company con- 
ceded to tlie hospital a tract of land on the side of the city opposite 
the Jesuit plautal ion, fronting eight acres on the Mississippi and forty 
in deptli, as a plantation to supply the wants of the Ursulines and to 
afford them a sufficient remuneration for their services in the hospital. 
Eacli of the nuns received 600 livres a year until their plantation was in 
full cultivation. In the agreement made with them by the India or 
Western Company, it was expressly stipulated that, if they ceased to 
serve in the hospital as agreed upon, they would forfeit their ]>lantation 
and the immovables attached to the liospital, and retain only the negroes 
and other movables. 

Soon after the arrival of the nuns the India Company laid the founda- 
tion of a very large edifice for a nunnery in the lowest square on the levee, 
on Coude street (now Chartres), between Barracks and Hospital streets, 
and a militarj^ hospital was built near it. The nvms removed to their 
new (luarters in the latter part of 17;J0, when it was completed, and con- 
tinued to occu'py it until 1824, when they moved to their present more 
spacious and delightful retreat on the banks of the river below the city. 
At that time it was three miles from the city walls. Up to the time of the 
construction of this convent the old one was the larr/cst house in Louisiana. 

In a private letter ^o President Jefl'erson, December 27, 1803, Gov. 
Claiborne writes : " I yesterday paid a visit of ceremony to the Ursu- 
line Convent and returned deeply impressed with its value and import- 
ance. There is a Ladv Abbess or Superior and eleven nuns, who devote 
themselves to the education of girls. They, at present, accommodate 73 



of the City of New Orleans. 19 



boarders nnd 100 scholara. Tlie children of the opulent of Lmiisiana and 
a nninlior from Mi.ssissii)ni, here receive insti'nction ; nor do they close 
their doors on tlie poor. Alany are here received gratuitously and 
treated; witli the gi'eatest kindness by these benevolent women. The 
society was, under the Spanish dominion, much larger, but many of the 
nnns, on the transfer of Louisiana to France, shocked by the incidents 
of the French revolution, souqrht an asylum in Havana. A number of 
these, I am imfornied, will soon return, confiding in the protection of our 
government." 

The old convent, now occupied by the Archbishop as a residence, wnS 
occupied by the Rta^e Legislature in 1831, as a place of assembly, on 
account of the destruction of the State House, and used by them until 
1884, when they removed to the building formerly used for the Charitv 
Hospital. The Ursulines have long since ceased to be ccmnected with 
the Charity Hospital, devoting themselves principally to the education of 
femnles. From an humble origin theirs has become one of the wealthiest 
relic-ions corporations of the State. Soon after the arrival of the Jesuits 
and the Ursulines a house for the sessions of the Superior Council and 
a .iail were built ou the ground now occupied by the Supreme Court 
building. 

While waiting for his successor, and governing the territory only a<l 
interim, Bienville closely watched the interests of the colony and took 
advantage of every opportunity to turn it to the profit or advantage of 
Louisiana. He, jointly with Salmon, the commissary, wrote to the 
French government on the fifteenth of June, 1742, as follows : " It is 
long since the inhabitants of Louisiana made representations on the 
necessitv of their having a college for the education of their children. 
Convinced of the advantages of such an establishment, they invited the 
Jesuits to undert ike its creation and management ; but the reverend 
fathers refused on the ground that they had no lodgings suited for the 
purpose, and had not the necessary materials to support such an institu- 
tion. Yet, it is essential that there be one, at least for thestudy of the 
classics of geometry, geography, pilotage, etc. There the youths of the 
colony would be taught the knowledge of religion, which is the basis of 
morality. It is but4:oo evidently demonstrated to parents how utterly 
worthless turn out to be those children who are raised in idleness and 
luxury, and how ruinously expensive it is for those who send their chil - 
dren to France to be educated. It is even to be feared from thin 
circumstance that the Creoles, thus educated abroad, will imbibe a 
dislike to their native countrj', and will come back to it only to receive 
and to convert into cash what property may be left to them by their 
parents. Many persons in Vera Cruz would rejoice at having a college 
here, and Avould send to it their children." 

This joint application of Bienville and Salmon for a college, was set 
aside on the ground that the colony was too unimportant for such an 



20 Hlatory of the St. Louis Cathedral, 

establisliinont, Wliat would the individuals who held tho reins of 
government at that time say, could they rise from their graves and look 
upon the prosperity and importance of the colony which they snubbed in 
so unceremonious a manner ? 

In 1755 there sprang up in the colony a sort of religious warfare, which 
added to the distraction produced by the expectation of perils from 
abroad. It was called tiik wau of the Jesuits and the Capuchins, and 
produced great excitement at the time. Innumerable squibs, pasqui- 
nades, satirical songs and acrimonious writings were circulated, and the 
wouien particularly distinguished themselves by their zeal in tlie cause 
of cither party. Gayarre chronicles the history of that exciting and 
memorable controversy, as follows: "In the agreement entered into 
with the India Company in 1726, the Jesuits hatl taken care to procure, 
as an apparently insignificant favor, thar their Superior might reside in 
New Orleans, oti condition that he should not discharge there any 
ecclesiastical functions, unless it sliould be with the consent of the Superior 
of the Capnchins. This was an entering wedge which the dexterity of 
the Jesuits turned to good purpose, so far as their interest was concerned. 
Enough had been granted to men in whom the energy of enterprise Avaa 
eqnal to the sagacious daring of conception, and to the artful readiness 
of execution.; 

"Tims the^y began with obtaining for their Superior, from the Hishop 
of Quebec, in whose diocese Louisiana was included, a commission of 
GiMud Vicar, to be carried into effect within the limitsof the ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction of the CapuMiins, with whicli they had no riglit to interfere, 
in virtue of the stijjulated conditionsoftlie contract entered into between 
th(^ Capucliius and the India Canipaiiy in 1717. The Jesuits ])reren(led 
tliat this was not a violation of tliat contract, because tlieir Sui)erioi- did 
not assume to act as Jesuit, but as Grand Vicar and representative oL' the 
Bishop of Quebec in his dioces(! of Louisiana. Uut the Superior Council, 
siding witli the Cai)uchins, had refused to admit and to record the nomi- 
milion made by tlu^ lUshoj). N<'vertlu'less, the Jesuits had gradually 
usurped many of tlie functions of theCapuchins. in spite of the strenuous 
ojjposilion to the latter, and had carried their audacity so far as to 
tlireaten to interdict their rivals altogetiier. The poor Capuchins, who 
were comj)letely bewildered and wiio were warning in the si)irit and 
ability necessary to cope with such adversaries, contented tiieniselves 
with uticring loud complaints and chimoring for tin' help of the govern- 
ment, lliduckily for tlieir cause, they liad conimitlt'd the fault of acting 
witii too much expansion oT goo(l nature towards the Jesuits. 

" l'\n- instance, on tht^ ninth of Marcli, 1753, Revkrknd Fatheu 
DA(;()nEKT, the Suix'iior of the Cai)uchins, had had the imi)ru(lent 
courtesy of inviting Father liaudoin, the Superior of the Jesuits, to give 
his benediction to the chapel of the hospital, built for the poor of the 
parish of New Orleans. Father Hauiloin, the Jesuit, assented with i>i«u3 
alacrity to the pro])()sition of Father Dagobint, the Capucliin, which 
alacrity was stimulated by the ciicumstaiice that Father DagoluMt, on 
that t)ccasion had, with christian meekness, offered to act. and did act as 
aid or assistant to the proud Jesuit that is, in an inferior cai)acity. 
Father Handoin availed himself of this circumstance as a weapon against 
the {;ai)uchins. He said that he had publislied his letters ])atent as 
Grand Vicar imimdiateiy after having recM'ived them, and that, although 
he liad assumed this title and announci'd his determination to act as 
Such, no objection had been raised to his causing, in this capacity, certain 



of the City of New Orleans. 21 



public;! lion to be made on the twenty-sixth of February, 1752, with 
re.irard to tlie celebration of tlic .inldlce in the parish ot New Orleans; 
that, subsequently, he had ijiven his benediction, in the same capacity, 
to the chapel ol tlie hosi)ital, and that, havinjj: thus V)een openly reco.uuized 
Vicar Geneia! of lower Louisiana, it was now too late for the Capuchins 
to dispute his title aiul pierogatives thereto ai)pertainin}r. This was the 
qiu'stion which had aijitated the colony for several j^ears, and which 
still remained undecided in 1755. * * * * 

" But, in 1704, the Capuchins weie rid of tlieir redoubtable adversaries, 
in coiise(inence of tlie famous Order of Expidsioii issued by the French 
government ;i.i;ainst this celebrated reli.uious order. All their pro])erty 
in Louisiana was seized, conliscated and sold for $180,000, a veiy large 
sum at thar time. It is well known that the Jesuits of Spain and Naples 
shared the sanu- fate with those of Fiance, and thnt they were almost 
simulraneously expelled from all the domainsappertaining to tlio.se three 
kingdoms. It was thought that these men who held, it was said, every 
consi<1(']iition secondary to tlie prosperity of their association, and whose 
attachment to it did not yield to that of Hoiatius, Scaevola or Brutus, for 
Rome had beconui too powerful, and even kings had been taught to fear 
their doctrines, which had been represented as <langerous, and their 
ambition wliich had expanded in ])roportion to the vast wealth of their 
order. When it was sulisequcntly abolished by the Pope himself, in 1773, 
tlie shallow multitude, whose look does not penetrate beyond theepider- 
mis of things, thought that the mighty society created by Loyola was 
really dissolved ; but those who were better acquainted with the jjrodi- 
gious organizations of the Company of J«sus, and with the vitality it de- 
rives from it, smiled at the ignorant credulity of mankind." 

On the twenty-second of February, 1770, General O'IIeilly, who had 
taken possession of the province in the name of the King of Spain, upon 
its transfer to the Spanish government, issued a proclamation instituting 
several changes. No change, however, took place in the ecclesiastical 
governmeur of the province. Father Dagobert was permitted to continue 
in the exercise of his pastoral functions as cui'ate of New Orleans, and in 
the administration of the southern part of the diocese of Quebec, of 
which the Bishop had constituted him Vicar General. The other Capu- 
chins were maintained in the curacies of their respective parishes. 

The attendance of the Ursuline nuns in the lio.spital, according to a 
full obtained from tlie Pope, was dispensed with ; their services had 
become merely nominal, being confined to the daily attendance of two 
nuns, during the visit of the King's physician. After noting his ])re- 
scription they withdrew, contentiiig themselves with sending from the 
dispensary, which was kept in the convent, the medicines he had ordered. 
The Catholic King had directed that two nuns should be maintained 
at his expense, for each of whom sixteen dollars were to be paid monthly 
to the convent out of nis treasury. 

The Spanish goverinnent, deeming it a matter not merely of policy, 
but of necessity, for the preservation of its peculiar institutions, that 
the rising generation of the colony should be instructed in the Spanish 
language, sent over from Spain in 1772, a priest and two assistants to 
teach that language. In the same year four young Spanish novices 
arrived from Havana, who, upon taking the veil in the convent of the 
Ursuliues, were also employed in teaching Spanish to young 



22 History of the St. Louis Cathedral, 



females. Tliis was the solitary instance of interest manifested by tlie 

Spanish government in the encouragement of learning during its admin- 

stration of affairs in Louisiana : 

Gayarre, in his forcible and graphic manner, gives a very interesting 

account of the condition of Citholicisiii in Louisiana during the few 

years antecedent to the war of the revolution. 

"Tlie conflict," he says, "which h:id sprang up between the Jesuits and 
Capuchins in 1755, as to the exercise of spiritual .iurisdiction in Louisi;m;i, 
may not liave been forgotten. The Bishop of Quebec had appointed a 
Jesuit, Father Baudoin, his Vicar General in New Orleans, but the 
Capuchins asserted that they had, accoi'ding to a contract passed with 
the India Company, obtained exclusivejurisdiction in lowcn- Louisiana, 
and therefore had opposed therein the exercise of any pastoral functions 
by the .Jesuits. The question remained undeeidiMl by the Superior 
Council, which felt considerable reluctance to settle the controversy by 
some final action from fear, perliaps, of turning against itself the 
hostility of both parties, although it leaned in favor of the Capuchins. 
Prom slieer lassitude there had ensued a sort of tacit truce, when 
Father Hillaike de Genoveaux, tlie Superior of the C.ipuchins, who, 
for one of a religious order, proverbiallj" famed for its ignorance, was a 
man of no mean scholarship and of singular activity, quickened by a 
hearty and ambitious temper, went to visit Europe without intimating 
what he was about, and returned with the title of Apostolic Prothono- 
tary, under which he claimed, it seems, the power to lord it over the 
Jesuit who was the Vicar General of the Bishop of Quebec. Hence an 
increase of wrath on the part of the Jesuits, and a renewal of the old 
quarrel, which ceased only when the Jesuits were expelled from all the 
French dominions. But the triumph of Father Genoveaux was not of 
long duration, for in 1766, the Superior Council, finding that he was op- 
posed to their scheme of insurrection, had expelled him as a perturber 
of the public peace, and Father Dagobert had become Superior to 
the Capuchins. They lived all together in a very fine house of 
their own, and there never had been a more haiinonious com- 
munity than this one was, undr r the rule of good Fatlier Dagobert. 
He had come very young in the colony, where he had christened and 
married everybody, so that he was looked upon as a sort of spiritual 
father and tutor to all. He was emphatically a man of peace and if 
there was anything which Father Dagobert hated in this Avorld, if he 
could hate at all, it was trouble trouble of any kind -but particularly of 
that sort which arises from intermeddling and contradiction. How could, 
ind(;ed, Father Dagobert not be popular with old and young, with both 
sexes and with every class? Who could have complained of one whose 
breast harbored Jio ill feeling towards anybody, and whose lips never 
uttered a harsh word in reprimand or blame, of one who was satisfied 
with himself and the rest of mankind, provided he was allowed to look 
on with Jiis arms folded, leaving angels and devils to follow the bent of 
their nature in their respective departments." * * * 

The brilliant historian of Louisiana follows up liis exquisite picture 

of good old Father Dagobert with one of the erst-while disgraced 

Sujjcrior of the Capuchins, and liis restoration to power. 

"But," continues Gayarre, "the Evil One was hovering around 
the walls of Eden and desolation was nigh. A short time after the pro- 
vince had become Spanish, and the Superior Council had been abolished. 
Father Genoveaux startled Fatlier Dagobert, by his sudden appc^ar- 
ance before him. At first the humble spirit of the old Capuchin quailed, 
and his heart sank within him when he saw one whose resources of mind, 
love of power and indomitable pride he but too well knew. But it 
seetned that misfortune had operated a salutary change in Father Gene- 



of the City of New Orleans. 23 



veaux, and the outward man much belied the inward one, if that also 
was not akeredjt'or he looked like one ready to kiss the rod of chastisement. 
His head was hent as it were with contrition, his eyt^s were lowly ttxed 
on the {?ronnd, hie liands were meekly crossed on his breast. In this 
posture of liumiliation lie informed Father Dagobert that lie had 
returned to serve where he had former y ruled, and he begged for 
admittance as an humble subordinate, into the holy house from which 
lie had been iguomiuously expelled as a Superior. With a rather falter- 
ing voice Father Dagobert uttered some words 'of welcome to 
his unexpected guest and expressed assent to the prayer. Keen, no 
doubt, were his misgivings, but they were soon allayed by 
the conduct of Father Geneveaiix, wlio not oulv gave the example of 
submissit)n, hut who also was the very pattern of apostolic humility. He 
seemed to have lost sight entirely of this world, and when not engaged 
iu the few ecclesiastical functions which were assigned to him, and 
which he discJiarged with the most exact fidelity, he was wrapped up in 
prayer or in study, particularly the study of the Spanish anguage, so 
tar, at least, as what Fatlier Geno veaux did could be ascertained, for he 
came out of his cell as little as he could; and by kee])iiig so much out of 
everybody's Avay he, by degrees, almost ceased to be considered as a 
thing of life, or, if so, certainly there could not be a metre harmless 
sort of a creature, or a more insignificant entity in flesh and blood. 

"These were halcyon days indeed, the enjoying of which was only 
marred by the news that Spanish Capuchins were soon expected. How 
they would agree with their French brethren was a question which exci- 
ted no little anxiety in tiie breasts of the latter, when, in the beginning 
of July, 1773, itwas positively known that FatherCyrillo, of Barcelona, 
Spain, was coming with some few assistants, in the name of the Bishop 
of Cuba, Don Santiago Jose de Echevaria, to investigate into the affairs 
of the church and the state of religion in the colony ; and on the 
nineteenth of the same month, which was consecrated to tiie celebration 
of a holyday. Father Dagobert, at the head of his Capuchins, and accom- 
panied by a large crowd of peoi)le, went in procession to the levee iu 
front of the public square, where FatherCyrillo and his companions were 
received with due honors and with great demonstrations of joy. 

" Tiie next day the Spanish luiests were presented to the Governor, to 
whom F'ather Cyrillo delivered his credentials and the letters addressed 
by the Bishop to that functuary. Governor Unzaga expressed still 
warmer satisfaction than the ]teople at the arrival of these ministers of 
peace and instructors in morals and religion, and declared publicly to 
Father (Jyrillo that he was ready to inake use of all the powers with 
which he was clothed to carry into execution the sacred instructions and 
mandates of liis Grace, the Bishop of Culia. On the very day of the 
arrival of the Sjiauish priests in the colony. Father Genoveaux 
doffed the garb of humility and submission which he had assumed, 
and proudly raising his head told Father Dagobert, iu an insult- 
ing tone and veiy abusive language, that a radical change would 
soon take place; that prof aneuess, wickedness and dotage would Speedily 
be driven out of the couAent and of the country, to yield their usurped 

Sower to virtue, learning, religion, active zeal and pious labor. 
le further added, chat the avengers of his wrongs liad come at last, 
and that now was the turn of his enemies to tremble. In order to carry 
his threats into execution he Immediately ingratiated himself with the 
Spanish priests, and being much their superior iu iuteligence and 
energy, he became their secret advisor and the prompter of all the 
maneuvres and attacks, from which the French Capuchins had to suffer. 
" Having landed on the nineteenth of July at New Orleans, Father 
Cyrillo lost no time in prying into the Lord's vineyard, and on the sixth 
of August communicated to his diocesan at Havana the result of his ob- 
servations. On the fourteenth of Sei)tembei', 1772, Fatiier Dagobert wrote 
to the Bishop of Havana to thank his Grace for having appointed him his 
Vicar General, a dignity which had already been conferred upon him by 



24 Hntary i>f the S'. Louis Cathedral. 



tlie Bisliop of Quebec, when Loiiisian.a formed a ])art of tliat diocese. 
Father Das:obert jiives [to the Spanisli Bisliop an aocnunt of his 
ecclesiastical administration, enumerates the reforms widen it re- 
quires, and with .crreat liumility exj)r(^sses his anxious wish to he 
g-nidcd by tiie superior wisdom of liis apostolic chiet', whose orders lie 
declares liimself ready to execute to tlie very letter. Fatlier Da.i,^obevt's 
communication to the Hisliop is written with great i)roi)riety, with diir- 
nilied subordination and christian meekiu'ss, and is not such a document 
as could be expec+ed from the individual described by FarJier Cviillo. 
On the twenty-sixth of the same month, Governor Ihizajia wrote to 
tlie Bishop a disiKXich, in which he denounced the conspiracy which had 
been formed by r,<>me unquiet spirit'^ (Kidiif^t the poor French (nipuehlns 
whom they wislied to be censured jii<te rel injiif^te. It has resulred from 
this persecution," said he, ''tliat Father Da.^obert, who does not 
know what it is to complain, spoke of returniuii: to France with his com- 
panions. At first I could not understand wh it was tlie cause of this 
resolution, as I attributed it to his fear of the discipline which your 
Grace mijiht establish ; but. when I was informed of the true state of 
thin.ii:s, I sent for liim and told him to remain quiet, and that your Grace 
would give him satisfaction. He showed himself contented with this 
assurance and promised, that whatever your orders might be, they would 
be scrupulously and blindly obeyed, and in the meantime he begged me 
to artbrd him some relief, by ])reventing Father Hilaire de Genoveaux 
from abusing him as lie was in tlie habit of doing <n^ery day. Thus 
matters stand, and I have left them, on account of their ecclesiastical 
nature, to the judgment of your Graci-, in order that your Grace umy 
settle them with that prudences of which so many proofs have already 
been given. Of tliis quality Father Cyrillo does not possess one particle. 

"Tlie whole letter of the Governor seems to be written in exculpation 
of Father Dagobert, and of the other French Capuchins, 'llieartily 
appi'ove,' said he to the Bishop,' 'some of the instructions which y(ui 
have given, and which are such as to secure the rights and interests of 
the king, and the object of wliich is to retain his subjects, under !iis rule, 
by conforming as much as possible with their genius, tJieir character and 
manners. This is what I call acting in ai-cordance with the apostolic 
mission; this is voluntarily making one's self the servant of all, in order 
to gain many, and working for the service of God, l)y assuming the garb 
of the JEW AMONG TiiK .JKWs, of the pagan among the pagans, and by 
sharing even in the infirmities of the sick. On the whole, 1 refer myself 
to what I have i)reviously communicated to your Grace, and from which 
your Grace will no doubt infer, that many of the synodical regulations 
cannot be applied to this province without injury to the interests of the 
king, (he number of whose vassals might be diminislied considerably, if 
those regulations were attempted to be carried into execution; and your 
Grace will easily understand, that it is not always that the laws made for 
one region can be safely .•idai)te(l to another.' This document is certainlj' 
a fair specimen of the Si)anish (Jovernor's ])iudence and liberality. 

"On the fourteenth ot November, 1772, Fa,ther Cyrillo, whose indigna- 
ti 'U had, it seems, gathered more intensity from its own broodiiigs, 
wrot(^ two lettius to tlie Bishop, and brought with additional vehemence 
fresh accusations against the friars, whom he repn'sented as the most 
abandoned of all human beings. Those letters, in scuiie of theii' parts, 
are very much in the style of certain jiassaves in Juvenal and Suetonius, 
which are hardly coin])a(ible with the chastity of modern languages. 
The oft repeated burden of all of Father Cyrillo's communicalions was 
his professed willingness, in all humility, and for the greater glory of 
God, witli the Bishop's consent, and on his being invested with full 
power, to undertake tlu^ ungiacio s and painful task of reforming all 
the abuses which he described and rejiroliated with such indefatigable 
zeal. 

"The quarrel of these priests was far from being settled in 1773, and 
on the tenth of July, Governor Unzaga wrote as follows to the Bishop : 



of the Gityqf Neiv Orleans. 25 



' I cannot understand wliat jiround Father Cyrillo can liave to rest his 
complaints upon, and luid not your Gi'ace informed me that he complains, 
I could not have believed it possible, for he and Father Dagobert 
appear now to agree very well and to move in concert in everything they 
do. With reg'ard to Father Dagobert's alleged infraction of your orders, 
it is true that lie has not as yet executed tliem all, in all their parts, par- 
ticularly in relation to your command to expel from the convent the 
Itlack women, and no longer to dispense with the required publications 
for the celebration of marriages. But I never doubted his willingness 
soon to obey your Grace in these matters, and, tlierefore, I felt no hesi- 
tation in giving him time for summoning to his aid the necessary 
fortitude to throw out of doors a set of people whom he had raised and 
kept about him from the cradle, and I well understand the weakness 
which causes his delays. If you should take into c<msideration the diflft- 
culty wliich there is in eradicating practices, usages and customs, and 
if you knew the individual, you would see clearly that tlie omission on 
his part, to which your attention has been called, has not been the result 
of obstinacy, but of simplicity. After all, the black Avomen are now 
kept on the jilantation of the fathers during the day, and the dispensa- 
tions as to marriages are no longer granted. 

" In one of your letters you communicate to me the complaints of the 
fathers, as to the deportment of Father Hilaire de Genoveaux. In one of 
my previous dispatches I made you acquainted with the character of this 
friar, and with the cause of his expulsion from the colony when under 
French domination. I have also mentioned his talents to your Grace 
witli the commendation they deserve ; and I have stated that he was 
entitled to justice at our hands. On his solicitation the King permitted 
him to come here in order that he might proceed in concert with the 
authorities to an examination of his case, and of the violence which he 
said was used towards him by the Superior Council of tlie late French 
colony, wliich not only expelled him witliout cause from the province, 
but also deprived liim of the ecclesiastical dignity with whicli he was 
clothed. I, therefore, took cognizance of this affair, gathered all the 
documents relating thereto, and referred the case to the King, wlio is 
the only competent authoi-ity to decide on its merits. I did not neglect 
at the same time to acquaint your Grace with all its circumstances. The 
royal decision has not yet been received, and I shall wait for it. For 
this reason, and because I consider as slanderous the denunciations sub- 
mitted to your Grace against the friar, I have abstained fi'om inteifering 
with him. It is true that, at first, he joined the Spanish friars against 
Father Dagobert ; but for the present he keeps aloof from both parties, 
and remains quiet in his cliamber, where he devotes himself entirely to 
study in the silence of solitude. I repeat that he is a good man, and that 
his talents make him very useful to the church, although his pride dis- 
qualifies him for the position of a Chief or Superior. Finally, you will 
think as you please on the subject, but with regard to myself, I know 
how difficult it is to come to a correct appreciation of the true merits of 
men of that sacred calling, when they choose to quarrel among themselves. 

"In your last communication you said that you were informed that 
each of the French Capuchins had received one thousand dollars for his 
share of the perquisites collected during the year, for the funeral rites 
and ceremonies only, and that Father Dagobert made light of the Bull 
OF THE Santa Cruzapa. Both assertions are false. The first will pro- 
voke a smile and the second a sorrowful indignation. How is it possible 
not to laugh at the impudence of the first assertion, when it is known 
that there is not in New Orleans, and its environs a population of two 
thousand souls of all professions and conditions, and the greater portion 
of those people are so poor, that when they die they are biuied with no 
charges or expenses than four realcs (50 cents), paid to the man who goes 
to the graveyard to give them sepulture ? The origin of the extraordinary 
information sent to your Grace proceeds, no doubt, from the fact that 
this capital has suftered greatly from the small-pox, and that there 



26 History of the St. Louis Cathedral, 



have been a great many deaths; but many of the dead were bhick aud 
white children, whose parents were too i)oor to pay any funeral charges. 
All that I could learn concerning the alleged contempt of Father 
Dagobert for the Bull of the Santa Cnizada, is that, in conversation, he 
said that it was unknown in France, and that in the Indies it was valu- 
able only on account of the graces and ])rivileges attached to it, etc. [The 
primitive object of the liuU of the Santa Crnzada was to grant indul- 
gences to all Spaniards that would engage personally in waging war 
against the infidels, or contribute to it by alms. The price of this bull 
was fixed at twenty-one quartos, or fourti-en to fifteen cents. No 
Catholic, inhabiting Spain, could abstain from purcluising it with- 
out exposing his orthodoxy to suspicion. When provided with it 
he had, among other privileges, that of eating flesh, with the consent of 
his physicia'i and confessor, and also, of using eggs and milk on days of 
fast and during Lent"]. I have conveyed to the knowledge of the King, 
tliat it is obnoxious to his subjects in this ])rovince ; that all means of 
persuasion are vain to reconcile tliem to it; that they consider it as a 
tribute paid to the clergy ; that they look upon it with horror, and that 
they would prefer it to any other tax or exaction. As the royal intentions 
of his Majesty are that nothing be done which may be c ilculated to 
breed discontent among his subjects, I mention this fact to your Grace 
that you may govern yourself accordingly." 

"This letter offended the Bishop aud called for an explanatory one 
which Governor Unzaga wrote to him on the twelfth of September, 1773, 
but the Bishop of Havana, not satisfied with the indifference w hicli he 
thought Unzaga had manifested in this religious controveisy, had 
applied to the Mauquis de la Torre, Governor and Captain General of 
the Island of Cuba, and had requested hini to stimulate what he called 
the indolence of the Governor of Louisiana. In reply to a communica- 
tion from de la Torre on tliis subject, Unzaga wrote a long disjiatch 
reciting to the Captain General the causes of all these religious dilhcul- 
ties which, after all, consisted in a mere struggle for power am;»ng those 
priests, in which the interests of the King were not imi)licated in the 
slightest degree. He evidently sided with the French Capuciiins, in 
whose favor he showed that his feelings were enlisted, and whom he 
defended against most of the accusations brought against them. He 
represented the Spanish Capuchins as being fully as ignorant as the 
French, and indeed, it is imi)ossible to read all he says without coming 
to the conclusion, that both the French and Sj)anish clergy in Louisiana 
at the time were not altogether worthy of their sacred mission. 

"I know the extent of the evil,' said he, ' but I believe that the appli- 
cation of the remedy is not in my power. To which ever side I might in- 
cline, I discover a shoal which prevents me from acting with the activity 
and firmness which I might otherwise exliibit. If, doing violence to 
my conscience and honor, I supported Father Cyrillo, it would be securing 
the triumph of artifice and malignity, and oppressing innocence. Were 
I to favor the other side, I should be obliged to remove Father Cyrillo to 
the remotest i)art of the province, and his Giace, the Bishop, might per- 
suade himself that I deprive him of his man, and that I oppose his 
designs, whilst my most earnest wish is to execute them, provided they 
do not conflict with the interests of tlie King, and have not the tendency 
to cause the province to lose the little whicli has remained of its former 
population. It would give much satisfaction if his Grace would pay a 
visit to this colony to be acquainted with his flock, and w'ith the true 
state of things. He would soon be undeceived on many points and, per- 
haps, Avould reform certain abuses. The people here will remain quiet 
as long as they are gently treated, but the use of the rod would produce 
confusion. Their dispositions are the result of the hapi)y state of 1 berty 
to which they have been accustomed from the cradle, and in which they 
ought to be maintained, so far as is consistent with the laws of the 
kingdom. 

" IJnzaga, after having written this reply, marked with so much inde- 



of the. City of New Orleans. 27 

pendence and lilierality, to the Marquis de la Torre, addressed on tlie 
same day au elaborate defence of the course lie had pursued, to the 
Bailiff DE Arriaga, one of the King's uiinisters. In tliis communi- 
cation he does not spare the Bishop, whom he accuses of an in- 
discreet severity wliich would have depopulated the colony, if he had, 
as Governoi-, carried his Grace's pa-^toral instructions into execution, 
" Considering that this document was addressed to the Court of Spain, 
and that it was written against a high dignitary of tlie church in a 
country wliere it is supposed to liave possessed tor centuries so much 
power, it is impossible not to be struck with Governor Unzaga's bold 
language. The Spanish government, which has tlie reputation of being 
so considerate and temporizing in all its decisions, acted on this occasion 
with its usual prudence. It supported the Bishop in all that he had 
written or done, save a few exceptions, but at the same time it abstained 
from censuring the Governor, and contented itself witli signifying to 
botii fnnctunaries, that it. was confidently expected that they would make 
some mutual sacrifices of their views for the sake of harmony, and would 
no longer expose the King's service to suiter in consequence of their dis- 
sensions. This hint was taken, it seems, and wliether some compromise 
or other was effected between the Feench and Spauisli Capuchins, peace 
appears to have spread its broad wings over the convent of this reverend 
fraternity, and nothing further was heard of their former quarrel," 

Thus ends Gayarre's account of the quarrels of the Catholic clergy of 
New Orleans in 1772, which were destined to be in a manner repeated 
seventy years later, in the matter of Father Antonio, and the church 
wardens against the Abbe Walsh and Bishop Blanc. 

On the seventh of January, 1777, a Mr, Henrican was appointed a Com- 
missioner to the Synod of the Bishop of Cuba. In Septeml)er, 1778, the 
Superior Council empowered FatherDagober'; to name o MarguillieroT 
church warden, every two years, who gave an account of his ad- 
minisi ratioji to two commissioners who were named every three years 
by the administrators. In the year 1779, six Capucliin friars arrived 
from Spain, and among them was the celebrated Father Antonie 
DE Sedella, better known as Father Antoine, whose memory is 
revered to this day by the faithful. He was curate of the parish 
for nearly fifty years, and the Cathedral is almost inseparably con- 
nected in the minds of old residents with the excellent old man, 
adored for his universal benevolence. He is said to have performed 
nearly one-lialf of the marriage and funeral ceremonies of the 
inhabtiants of the province during his curacy. He was instituted 
curate on the twenty-fifth of November, 1785, and exercised his pastoral 
functions until his death, at the age of nearly ninety years, in 1837. 

A strange anomaly, however, in the career of this good man was his 
attempt, in the beginning of 1789, to introduce that dreaded tribunal, 
that devil's device, the inquisition, into Louisiana. How a man so well 
reputed for goodness and benevolence could have ever thought of such 
a thing is beyond the power of ordinary comprehension ; but he made the 
attempt, and liad it not been for the wisdom and liberal impulses of 
Governor Miro, the people of the province would have had saddled upon 
them the most terrible nightmare of religion that ever inflicted helpless 
humanity. 



28 History of the St. Louis Cathedral, 



Father Autoine sent a coiunmnicatiou to Governor Miro, informiug 
him that he, the holy father, had been appointed Commissary of 
Inquisition, which intelligence Iiad been communicated in a letter 
received by him on the fiftli of December, 1788, from the proper authority. 
Father Antoine's instructions were to discharge his new functions with 
the greatest tidelity and zeal, and in conformity with the royal will. 
Wherefore, after having made his investigations with the utmost 
secrecy and precaution, he notified the Governor that, in order to 
carry, as he was commanded, his instructions into perfect execution 
in all their parts, he might soon, at some late hour of the night, 
deem it necessary to require some guards to assist him in his operations. 
The Governor gratified his wishes by furnishing him a guard, but 
earlier than he desired, and with a result rather unexpected. On the 
night of the same day upon which he had addressed Governor Miro, he 
was rudely awakened from his slumbers by a loud knocking on the door 
of the presbytery. Jumping out of bed and opening the door he beheld 
in martial array before him a tile of eighteen grenadiers, headed by an 
officer. 

Thinking that the Governor had sent them to do his bidding he said: 
" My friends, I thank jow and his excellency for the readiness of this 
compliance with my request, but I have now no use for your services, and 
you shall be warned in time when you are wanted ; retire then with the 
blessings of God." But what was his horror and surprise upon being in- 
formed by the officer that he was under arrest. " What ! " exclaimed he, 
" will you dare lay your hands on a Commissary of the Holy Inquisition ? " 
" I dare obey orders,'*'' replied the officer undauntedly, and Father Antoine 
was placed on board a ship which sailed the next day for Cadiz, Spain. 
He afterwards returned to Louisiana. 

In his report of the affair, dispatched on the thiixl of June, 1789, to 
a member of the Cabinet of Madrid, Governor Miro said : "When I 
read the communication of that Capuchin I shuddered. His Majesty has 
ordered me to foster the increase of population in this i)rovince, and to 
admit in it all those that would emigrate from the banks of those rivers 
which empty themselves into the Ohio. This course was recommended 
by me for the powerful reasons which I have given in confidential dis- 
patches to the Most Excellent Don Antonio Valdes, and which your 
Excellency must have seen among the papers laid before the Supreme 
Council of State. This emigration was to be encouraged under the 
pledge that the new colonists should not be molested in matters of reli- 
gion, provided there should be no other public mode of worship than the 
Catholic. The mere name of the Inquisiticm uttered in New Oi'leans 
would be sufficient, not only to check immigration, which is snccessfully 
progressing, but would also be capable of driving away those who have 
recently come, and I even fear that, in spite of my having sent out of the 
country Father Sedella, the most fatal consequences may ensue from the 



of the City of Neiv Orleans. 29 



mere suspiciou of the cause of his dismissal." In April, 1791, Father 
Autoine, having returned, was appointed lionorary preacher to the King 
»f Spain. , 

In 1781, Fathku Cyrillo, the bitter enemy and heartless reviler of 
good Father Dagobert, reached the object of Ids ambition, for, in that 
year, he was created by Pope Pius VI, a Bishop inparUlms infiilelium, and 
received the canonical institntiou of the see of Tricali, a town in Greece. 
r3ut he was appointed Coadjutor or Auxiliary Bishop to his patron of 
former j^ears, Don Jose Santiago de Echevaria, who still occupied the see 
of Cuba, to which the diocese of New Orleans was tributary, and was 
directed to exercise his Episcopal fuuctions in Lonisiana, so that we see 
the detested Father Cyrillo become the first Bishop of Louisiana, tiiough 
not of the diocese, which was not establislied until 1793. 



'V) 
The expenses of the church establishment of the province in 1785, -• 

according to a statement of the total expenses of the province made in 

that year by the Intendant, by order of Captain General Galvez, were 

as follows : 

New Orleans, a curate $ 480 00 

four assistants 1260 00 

Terre-aux-Boiuf s, a curate - 340 00 

St. Charles, a curate ; St. John the Baptist, a curate 480 00 

St. James, a curate ; Ascension, a curate ..... 480 00 

Iberville, a curate , Pointe Coupe, a curate 480 00 

Attakapas, a curate ; Opelousas, a curate 480 00 

Natchitoches, a curate ; Natchez, a curate 480 00 

St. Louis, a curate ; St. Genevieve, a curate 480 00 

Galveston, a curate and sacristan, $540, expenses, $50. 590 00 

Allowance for wax lights to countiy parishes 300 00 

Boarding of six nuns, at the King's expense . 720 00 

Boarding of twelve orphan girls 360 00 



^' 



Total 16830 00 

On Good Friday, the twenty-first of March, 1788, a terrible calamity 
befell the growing little city of New Orleans, in a great fire which laid 
the greater portion of the town in ashes. The fire broke out at half-past 
one o'clock in the afternoon, in the residence of the military 
treasurer, Don Vincente Jose Nunez, and the wind blowing from tlie 
south at the time with great violence, the flames rapidly spread and 
destroyed 856 houses, the entire business portion of the town, the finest 
residences, the convent of the Capuchins, with most of their books, the 
townhall, the watch-house, the arsenal with all its contents, except 750 
muskets, the public prison, the unfortunate inmates of which narrowly 
escaped destruction, and the parish church. Almost the only buildings 



30 History of the Sf. Loim Cathedrn}, 

which esoajK'd destiiictioii were those ou the bauk of tlie river. The des- 
titution that folh)wed upon the almost total annihilation of the town was 
very great, and it was long before it recovered from the calamity. 
Gov ernor Miro estimated the loss to be $2,595,561. 

And now appears upon the scene an individual wlio was the instrument 
of much good in his day. He, his descendants and contemporaries, have 
played prominent parts in the annals of New Orleans, and the history of 
the city could not be written without mention of his career. We refer to 
l^ON Andhes Almonastek-y-Koxas, the founder of the St. Louis Cath- 
dral. After the terrible conflagration of 1788, whi'-h d«^xtioyed the 
brick Parish Church, built in 1724 or 1725, mass was celebrated in a 
temp<uary building erected for tlie purpose. Tu the latter part of 1788, 
Don Almonaster offered to the Superior Council or CahUdo, to rebuild 
the church on a still grander and more massive scale at his own expense, 
the government to repay him for his expenditure upon the completion 
of the edifice. His proposition was excepted, the foundation of the 
Cathedral laid in the spring of 1792 and completed two years later. 
He also secured the contract for, and built the buildings on each side 
of the Cathedral, at about $5000 a piece , the one on the left intended 
for a presbytery, now^ occupied by t';'' ('WW Distri'-t Courts and the Civil 
Sheriff, and the one on the right built for a townhall and jail, in which 
the CahUdo held its sessions, now occupied by the Supreme Court, the 
Second Recorder's Court and the Third Precinct Stati«m. 

Hardly had the new Cathedral been built when, on the fete o" the 
Immaculate Concepfon, the eighth of December of the same year (1794), 
another great conflagration consumed the principal portion of the 
city. The fire originated in the court yard of tlie honse of one Franoo^'a 
Mayronne, where his children were playing with fire, and the store 
adjoining being devoted to the sale of hay, the flames communicated 
with it, and spread rapidly, consuming in three hours 212 of the most 
valuable dwellings and stores, private and public property. The losses of 
the merchants were almost incalculable, only two stores being spared by 
the flames. The only edifice of imi)ortance which almost miraculously 
escaped destruction was the newly built Cathedral. 

Don Andres Almonaster-y-Roxas, a native of Mayrena, Province of 
Andalusia, Spain, was of noble birtli, a colonel of the provincial troops 
in Louisiana, an<l a cavalier of the royal and distinguished order of 
Carlos TIL His parents were Don Miguel Jose Almonaster and Donna 
Maria .loanna de Estrada-y-Roxas. In August, 17(59, he was appointed a 
King's Notary, similar to our notary puldic, and in 1789, chosen by the 
CahUdo or Governing Council (analagous to our City Council), for ordi- 
nary Alcalde or Justice of the Peace, for the years 1789 and 1790, in 
conjunction with a certain Don Ortega. He also succeeded Don Regnio 
as Peipetual licfjidor and Alferez Real, which positions he held during 
life, and was succeeded, upon bis death, by his father in law, M. Pierre 
Denys de Laronde. 



of the City of New Orleans. 31 



[As the nature of the offices aboveenumeratedarenot generally known 
a sliort explanation is liere given : The Cabildo, instituted by O'Reilly 
in place of the Superior Council of the French administration, was com- 
posed of six perpetual Ecgklors, two ordinar}' Alcaldes, an Attorney- 
General-Syudic, nnd a Clerk, and over which the Governor of the pi'ovince 
presided in person. The office of perpetual liegidor was acquired by 
purchase ; the purchaser had the faculty of transferring his office by 
resigniition, to a known and capable person paying one-lialf of its 
ajjpraised value on the first and one-third on every other mutation. 
Tlie office of Alferez Real was always held bj^ one of the Begidors. Tlie 
oi'dinary A Icaldes were chosen on the first day of every year by the Cabildo 
and Avere always re-eligible by its unanimous vote, but not by the 
majority, unless after the expiration of two years. At such elections the 
votes were openly given and recorded. The ordinary Alcaldes were 
individually judges within the city in civil and criminal cases, where 
the defendant did not enjoy and claim the privilege of being tried by 
a military or ecclesiastical judge, fvcro militar, fvero ecclesiastico. 
Tliey heard and decided in their chambers, summarily and with- 
out any written prccetdiiig, all crniplaints in wliich the value 
of the object in dispute did not exceed twenty dollars. In other cases 
proceedings before them were recorded by a notary, and in an apartment 
set apart for this purpose, and where the value of the object in dispute 
exceeded ninety thousand maravedis, or $830.88, an appeal lay from their 
decision to the Cahildo. This body did not itself examine the 
judgment appealed from, but chose two Begidors, who, with the 
Alcalde, who had rendered it, reviewed the proceedings, and if he 
and either of the Begidors approved the decision it wasaffirmed. 
The Cahildo sat every Friday, but the Governor had tlie power 
of convening it at any time. Wlien he did not attend one of the 
ordinary Alcaldes presided, and immediately on the adjourment 
two Begtdi-08 went to his house and informed him of whathad 
been done. The ordinary Alcaldes had the first seats in the Cabildo 
immediately after the Governor, and below them the other members sat 
in the following order: The Alferez Beal, Principal Provincial JL/caMe, 
-4 Iguazil Mayor or High Sheriff', Depositary General, Receiver of Fines, 
Attorney-General-Syndic and Clerk. 

The office of Alferez Beal was merely honorary, no other function 
being assigned to the incumbant but the bearing of tlie I'oyal standard 
in a few public ceremonies. Tlie Principal Provincial Alcalde had cogni- 
zance of offences committed without the city. The Alguazil Mayor 
executed personally, or by his deputies, all processes from the different 
tribunals. The Depositary-General took charge of all moneys and efifects 
placed in the custody of the law. The functions of the Receiver-General 
are pointed out by his official denomination. The Attorney-General- 
Syndic was not, as might be supposed from his title, the prosecuting 



32 History of the St. Louis Cathedral, 

officer of tlie crown ; his duty was to propose to the Cahildo such 
measures as the iuteres*^^ of tlie people required and to defend their rights. 
The Eegidors received fifty dolhirs each annually, from the treasury. 
The principal Provincial Alcalde, AJgmisil Mayor, Depositary-General, 
Receiver of Fines and ordinary Alcalde were entitled as such to fees of 
office.] 

Besides havingbeen the l)uilder or founder of the Cathedral and the build- 
ings on either side of it, Don Almonaster founded the St. Charles Charity 
Hospital and its chapel, the chapel of the Lazarists, the chapel of the Ur- 
sulines Convent, a hospital for lepers, schools for little children and the 
Presbytery of the Cathedral. Don Almonaster had landed ujjon our 
shores a guileless widower, liis first wife having been a Spanisli lady by the 
name of Donna Maria Martinez. He was again married in the Parish 
Church on the twentieth of March, 1787, just a year before it was de- 
stroyed by the great fire, to Mlle. Louise de Laronde, a beautiful 
young Creole of New Orleans, daughter of M. Pierre Deuys de 
Laronde, a native of Quebec, and Marie Marguerite Broutin, of 
New Orleans. Father Antonio Sedella performed the marriage 
ceremony. Don Almonaster's only child and daughter, Mica>la Le- 
Leonarda Antonia, afterwards the celebrated Mme. Pontalba, was born 
on the sixth of November, 1795. On the twenty-third of October, 1811, 
she was married in the Cathedral by Father Antonio to Joseph Xaviek 
Cklestine Delfau de PoNTALiiA, a native of New Orleans, son of 
Joseph Xavier Delfau, Baron de Pontalba, and Jeanne Francois Louise 
Lebretton, in the presence of a brilliant assembly. Col. Bernard de 
Marigny de MandeviUe representing Mai'shal Ney, Duke d'Elchingen, 
the celebrated comrade in arms of Napoleon, gave the l)ride away, and 
the Cavallero de Macarty, M. Iguace Delino de Chalmet, M. Laselve 
de St. Avid and Mme. Deverges de St. Sauveur, officiated as witnesses. 
Mme. de Pontalba died on the twentieth of April, 1874, at her magnifi- 
cent Jiqtel, No. 41 Faubourg St. Honore, Paris, leaving three sons to inherit 
the wealtli and vast landed estates which she had inherited from her 
father. 

Her husband died three or four yeai's later at the age of eighty-five. 
His father, also a native of our city, had been, in his day, a colonel of 
the Royal Hxerciios, and commandant of the Cote d^Allemande (German 
Coast) and the Parish of n)erville. He took an active part as an officer 
in Governor Bienville's expedition against the Chickasaws in 1736, and in 
1751 received from the Marquis de Vaudreuil, Governor of the pro- 
vince, his appointment as Commander of the Pointe Coupe Settlement 
and the Cote d'Allemande (German Coast) ; but, in 1753, Gov. Kerlerec 
was reluctantly compelled to remove him by the pressure of cir<!umstauces. 

As Kerlerec himself declared, Pontalba should have been kept at 
Pointe Coup6 for tiie good of the locality, but he Avas obliged to remove 
him by the pressure of the calumnies of a gang of intriguers, who had 



of the City of New Orleans. 83 

spread tlie rumor that Pontalha would retaiu his post, because he had 
annually paid to 6overu<(r de Vandreuil a stipend of 13,000 livres, and 
that the same influence would l)e brought to bear upon him (Governor 
Kerlerec) with the same results, liet'ore the departure of Goveriu)r 
de Vandreuil for his new post as Governor of Canada, a petition signed 
by forty of the leading- inhabitants of Pointe Coupe, had been pre- 
sented to Governor Kerlerec to retain Col. de Pontatba in command; 
"but," Kerlerec confesses in one of his dispatches, "I had to yield to 
nuilicious insinuations which tilled me with grief, humiliation, contempt 
and disgust townrd tlie ])eople oft his country." Col. de Pon- 
talba was appointed by the Cahildo ordinary Alcalde fori 795, 
in conjunction with M. de Lovio, and was a member of a court 
martial composed of Governor Kerlerec, Rochemore, In tendant Commis- 
sary of the Territory and ten officers of the army, which convened on the 
second of January, 1760, to consider the expediency of surrouiuling New 
Orleans witli a ditch and pallisade, in conformity with a plan made by 
the engineer De verges. The fortitications were to be erected at the 
King's expense, the inhabitants of New Orleans being in no condition 
financially to bear the burthen, although they had to bear the expense of 
keeping them in good condition. The fortifications were completed on 
the twenty-first of December, 1760. Col. Pontalbas ubsequently went 
to France, taking up his residence in Paris. On the fifteenth of Sep- 
tember, 1800, he presented to Napoleon, then First Consul, a very 
able, lengthy and exhaustive memorial on the resources and grand 
possibilities of the territory in whicli he had resided for many 
years in a high official capacity. In this able document which faithfully 
delineates the Louisiana of those days and paints the possible Louisiana 
of the future, he exhibits a wonderfully clear .iudgment, great sagacity 
and a most prophetic comprehension of the future, and it proves him to 
have been a man of great mental calibre and discernment. It is a most 
significant fact, in connection herewith, that on the first of the month 
following the presentation of Col. de Pontalba's memorial, the secret 
treaty of San Ildephonso Avas signed, in which Spain agreed to the re- 
trocession of Louisiana to the French Republic. 

The parents of Col. Pontalba were Joseph Delfau de Pontalba, a native 
of Montauban, France, Chevalier of the Royal Order of St. Louis, captain 
of one of the companies of Estaeados of Louisiana in the service of His 
Catholic Majesty, the King of Spain, and Madeline Marguerite Broutin, 
a native of New Orleans,daughter of M. Caesare Lebreton des Char- 
meaux, a Mosquetero, in the service of His Catholic Majesty, the King of 
Spain, and of Jeanne Frangoise Macarty. 

Don Andres Almonaster-y-Roxas died in this city at the age of seventy- 
three years, on the twenty-sixth of April, 1798, and was buried in the 
grand old edifice built under his superintendence, bringing him so much 
substantial benefit in life and glory after death. He lies in front 
4 



34 Hishry of the St. Louis Cathedral, 

of the altar of the Sacred Heart aud of St. Francis of Assisi, and in the 
tloor over his grave is a large marble slab, on which are inscribed his 
coat of arms and tlxe record of his life, his lumors and his deeds. His 
widow afterwards married a creole gentleman by the name of de 
Castillon. 

In 1790 the Bishopric of Cuba, whicli embraced the provinces of 
Louisiana, East and West Florula, was divided ; the Southern portion of 
the island erected into the Archbishopric of Cuba, aud the northern 
part, with the above-named provinces, into the Bishopric of Havana, of 
which Don Santiago Jose de Tues-Palacios was the first incumbent. 
In February, 1793, Rev. Father Thykso Henrique Henriquez, D. 
D., was named by the Bishop of Havana an Auxiliary Vicar General 
and Ecclesiastical Judge for the province of Louisiana, the Floridas 
and Peusacola, but recalled in June, 1793, and the Rev. Father 
Patrick Walsh, appointed Vicar General in his place, and Father 
Jose Thomas Paxeno, Apostolic Judge. In the latter year Pope 
Pius VI again divided the last named Bishopric, and the Diocese 
of Louisiana, embracing the provinces of Louisiana, Eas*^^ and West 
Florida, was founded. Don. Luis de Penalvert-y-Cardenes, the 
Pro visor and Vicar General of the Bishop of Havana, and first Bi hop 
of the new See, arrived in New Orleans in 1795, with two Canons, 
who had been added to tlie clergy of the province. 

In a dispatch of Bishop Peiaalvert's, of the first of November, 1795, 

some insight is given into the condition of the morals and religion of the 

inhabitants. He said : " Since my an-ival in this town, on the seventeenth 
of July, I have been studying with the keenest attention tlie character of 
its inhabitants, in order to regulate my ecclesiastical government in ac- 
cordance with the information which I may obtain on this imi)ortant sub- 
ject. Uu the second of August, I began the discharge of my pastoral func- 
tions. T took possession without any difficulty of all the buildings 
appertaining to the church, and examined all the books, accounts and other 
matters thereto relating, but, as to re-establishing tlie purity of religion 
and reforming the nmnners of the people, winch are the chief objects ill 
Tridentino has in view, I have encountered many obstacles. * * * * " 

The Bishop concludes by enumerating the means aud expedients 
which he intends to use to exterminate the evils he complains of. Neces- 
sarily his statement may have been somewhat overdrawn and allowances 
must be made for the color of the glasses through which he, a Spanish 
ecclesiastic, observed the gay, good natured and hospitable French 
Louisianiaus of that day, who have transmitted their refined elegance of 
deportment, keen apprciciation of the good things of this life and 
unbounded hospitality to their worthy descendants. 

At the close of the year 1799, Bishop Pehalvert-y-Cardenas forwarded 

another dispatch, in which he thus quaintly writes of the foundation of 

Freemasonry in Louisiana > "Tlie emigration from the western part 
of the United States, and tiie toleration of oiii' government, liavc intro- 
duced into this colony a gang of adventurers who have no religion, and 
acknowledge no God, and they have made much worse the morals of our 
people by their coming in contact with them in theii- trading pursuits. 



of the City of New OrJea-ns. 



ALoDGK OF Freemasons lias been formed in one of the suburbs of the 
city, and eonnts aniontr its iueinl>ers ofiieers of tlie saiii^on and of the 
civil administration, merchants, natives and forciiiiurs. Their secret 
meetinfi'S on fixed days, on which they perfoini their functions, as\yeH as 
other circumstances, ^ive to tliis association a sus})icions and criminal 
appearance. The adventurers I speak of Jiave scattered themselves over 
the districts of Attahapas, Ouachita and Natchitociies, in the vicinity of 
the province of Texas, in New Spain. They employ the Indians on their 
farms; have frequent intercourse and conversations with them, and im- 
press their minds with pernicious maxims, in harmony with their own 
restless and ambitious temper, and witli the customs of their own 
western countrymen wlio are in the habit of saying, to such of 
their bosy as are distinguished for a, robust frame, whilst patting 
them on the shoulder: ' You iviU he the man to go to Mexico.'' 
Such is the case with the up])er pait of the Mississippi, with the dis- 
trict of Illinois and the adjacent territories, in Avhich there has been a 
remarkable intioduction of tlio-'e adventurers, who penetrate even into 
New^ Mexico. This evil, in my opinion, can only be remedied by not 
permitting the slightest American settlement to be made at the 
points already designated, nor on any jiart of the Kio Colorado. 
The parishes which were religiously dis])osed are losing their faith 
and their old customs, the number of those christrians wlio receive the 
sacrament at Easter decreases, and the people turn a deaf ear to the ad- 
monitions of the clergy. It is true that the same resistance to religion 
has always manifested itself here, but never witli such scandal as now 
prevails. The military officers and a good many of the inhabitants live 
almost publicly with colored concubines, and tliey do not blush at cai'ry- 
ing the illegitimate issue they have by them to be recorded in the 
parochial registries as their naturol cltildren.''\ 

The Bishop also states that the magistrates, whose duty ought to be to 
give a good example to the people are the first to violate all the precepts 
of religion and maturity. In November, 1801, the cynical and fault find- 
ing Bishop was rewarded for his unceasing energy and untiring zeal 
in the works of the church, by promotion to the Archbishopric of 
Guatemala. 

Right Reverend Francis Porro, D. D., was appointed to succeed 
Bishop Pehalvert, but never came to the province. Rev. Father 
Thomas Haslett, one of the Canons of the Cathedral, who did a short 
time before the cession of the province to the United States, had also not 
been replaced. 

The province of Louisiana in 1803, was divided into twenty-one 
parishes for ecclesiastical purposes, four of them being without a church 
and eight without a priest — the whole clergy not consisting of more 
than nineteen individuals, including the Chaplain to the Ursulines Con- 
vent, one to the troops, one in each of the two liospitals, and the three 
assistants of the Curate of New Orleans. The salary of the Bishop 
amounted to $4000, which was charged to some of the Bishoprics in M(^xico 
and that of Havana. The salary of each of the two Canons was $600 and 
those of the Curate and Chaplains were from $360 to $730, paid out of the 
treausury. They also received fees for masses, marriages and burials ; 
besides this, a salary of $180 a year was paid out of the royal treas- 
ury, to each of the Sacristans of most of the parishes, $100 a year to 
the Cathedral and $24 to each parish for bread, wine and wax lights. 



36 History of the St. Louis Cathedral, 

The sum i)ai<l b}^ the Kiu^, the rent ol' tlie liouses on a square owned 
by it and the hire of the pews, constituted the revenue of the Catliedral, 
tlie other churches deriving theirs from the rent of pews alone. 
There were two other houses of worsliip in New Orleans besides 
the Cathedral, in wl)ich divine service was regularly jierformed— 
the Chapel of the Ursulines and that of the Charity Hospital- 
There were only eleven nuns in the convent, who devoted themselves 
to the education of young girls, accepting pay from the wealthy and 
teaching poor girls gratuitously. The Catholic was the State religion 
and the only one whose rites were allowed to be publicly performed. No 
person w^as compelled to attend its services and every one was permitted 
to worship as he pleased at home, provided he showed due respect in 
public for the ceremonies of the Catholic church. 

By a Bull of Pope Pius VTI, dated September, 1803, the spiritual admin- 
istration of the diocese of Louisiana was committed to Bishop Carrol, of 
Baltimore, Primate of America, who made choice on the twenty-ninth of 
December, of Father Olivier, Chaplain of the Ursulines in New 
Orleans, for Vicar General of the territory. The nomination must, how- 
ever, have been withdrawn, as Father Walsli still occupied the position in 
1805. Up to the latter year nothing occurred to interrupt the tranquility of 
the affairs of the Cathednil, but at this period the celebrated contest 
on the subject of the ownership of the Cathedral arose between Father 
Antoine, the po])ular Curate, and Abbe Walsh, the unpopular Vicar 
General, which controversy agitated the affairs of the church off 
and on for a period of nearly fifty years. Tlie Abbe Walsh claimed 
the Cathedral as the property of the Ronuui Catholic Church, whereas. 
Father Antoine declared it belonged to the Catholic laity of New 
Orleans. Father Antoine, consistently with his view^s, convoked 
an assembly of the Catholics of New Orleans, who solemnly took 
possession of their Cathedral, nominated Messrs. Thomas Poree, 
Paul Lauusse, Jean Baptiste Labatut, Jean Castanedo and Jean 
Baptiste Durel, Administrators or Board of Wardens of the said 
church, and confirmed Father Antoine in his functions. This was 
corroborated on the eighteenth of March, 1805, by Governor 
Claiborne, who, in a communication to President Madison, relative to 
the quarrel, says : 

"A dispute has arisen among the members of the Catholic church in 
this city. ]\Tr. Walsh, who claims to be the Vicar General of Louisiana, 
took upon himself to dismiss a priest wlio lia<l care of this parisli. The 
priest a)»])ealed to his parishoners, who have disavowed the authority 
of Mr.Walsh and elected (amidst many liurraiis) the dismissed priest, their 
pastor. The subject excites much interest among the Catholics, but it is 
probable, will not eventuate in any unpleasant consequences." 

And in a later communication, he says: "The schism among the 
catholics of the territory increases. The Mcar General, who claims pre- 
cedence in the church, is about ])ublishing a pastoral letter and pro])oses 
to give it a general circulation. I v«'iy niucli regret this religious con- 
troversy, etc. Mr. Walsh is an Irishman, and his principal opponent. 



of the City of New Orleans. 37 



Mr. Autonio, a Spanisli priest. Thk Marquis de Casa-Calvo is said to 
take great interest in favor of the latter, but I have no evidence of this 
fact." 

Later, however, upon discovering that the Marquis was taking an 
active part in tlie dispute, he addressed a letter to the gentleman upon 
the subject, in wliich he suggested the indelicacy and impropriety of 
any interference on liis part. 

On the eleventh of July, Governor Claiborne received a letter from 
Vicar General Walsh, in which he complained "of the interruption of public 
tranquility, which had resulted from the ambition of a refractory monk, 
supported in his'apostasy by the fanaticism of a misguided populace and 
by the countenance of an individual [the Marquis of Casa-Calvo], 
Avhose interference was fairly to be attributed less to zeal for the religion 
he would be thought to serve, than to the indulgence of private passions 
and the promotion of views equally dangerous to religion and to civil 
order." He also informed Governor Claiborne that two individuals had 
gone to Havana for tlie ex]>ress purpose of procuring a re-inforcement of 
monks to support Father Antonio de Sedella in " his schismatic and rebel- 
lious conduct," and prayed Cor such relief and assistance as the executive 
could afford him. Claiborne's reply was, ''that under the American 
government, where the rights of conscience are respected and no particu- 
lar sect is the favorite of the law, the civil magistrates were bound 
carefully to avoid interference in religious disputes, unless, indeed, the 
public peace should be broken or menaced, and then it became their duty 
to act ." In recommending harmony and tolerance to the priest, Governor 
Claiborne observed : " For if those who profess to be the followers of 
the meek and humble Jesus, instead of preaching brotherly love and 
good will to man, and enforcing their precepts by example, should labor 
to excite dissension and distrust in a community, there is, indeed, ground 
to fear that the church itself may cease to be an object of veneration." 

Though the Abbe Walsh's attempt to enlist Governor Claiborne's sup- 
port in his cause, as against that of Father Antoine, was unsuccessful, 
he yet insinuated some doubts into the Governor's mind, as to the 
loyality of the popular curate. As a result of his doubts and fears. 
Governor Claiborne thus addressed the Secretary of War, after reverting 
to other matters: "We have a Spanish priest here who is a very 
dangerous man. He rel)elled against the Superiors of his own church 
and would even rebel, I am persuaded, against this government when- 
ever a fit occasion may serve. This man was once sent away by the 
Spanish authorities for seditious practices, and I am inclined to think 
that I should be justifiable, should I do so likewise. This seditious 
priest is a Father Antoine. He is a great favorite of the Louisiana ladies, 
has married many of them and christened all their children. He is by 
some citizens esteemed an accomplished hypocrite ; has great influence 
with the people of color, and report says, embraces every opportunity to 



38 Hutury oj the Si. Louis Cathedral, 

render tlieni discontented under the American irovernnient." Fol- 
lowing up his apprehensions, Goveiiior Claiborne requested Father 
Antoine to report at the Government House. There, in tlie presence of 
the Mayor of the city and of Col. Bellecliass'^, member of the Legislative 
Council, the Governor informed him of the reports vvliich were being 
circulated about his conduct. Father Antoine listened to them witli his 
usual humility, solemnly jn-otested his innocence, and pledged his word to 
support the government and to promote good order. Governar Clai- 
borne, nevertheless, thought it proper to administer to liim the oath of 
allegiance, and caused his conduct to be carefully watched. "Tlie 
priest " wrote the Governor, in his report to the authoi'ities at Washington, 
"declared the reports to have oi'igimited in the malice of his enemies. 
The division in the Catliolic church has excited many malignant 
passions, and it is not improbable that some injustice has been done 
to this individual." 

Though Vicar General Walsh had not succeeded 'n enlisting the 
sympathy of either the people or the government, he did not abate his 
efforts. The matter was brought before the Superior Court of the 
territory of Orleans, which decided against Abbe Walsh. Father 
Antoine was maintained in his functions, and in consequence, the Admin- 
istrators were recognized as the only representatives of tlie true owners of 
the church— tliat is, the Catholics of New Orleans. This constituted the 
original title of the MargmUiers, or Cliurch Wardens, to the St. Louis 
Cathedral. Not satisfied with the title thus given them by the tribunals 
of justice, they addressed themselves, in 1816, to the sovereign power, 
the St.ate of Louisiana, which duly recognized and granted them a charter 
dated March 7tli, 1816, signed by Hon. Magloire Guichard, Speaker of the 
House of Representatives, and Hon. N. Merriam, Piesident of the 
Senate, and approved by His Excellency, Wm. C. C. Claiborne, Governor 
of the State. 

Up to 1812the ecclesiastical concerns of Louisi.'ina were under the super- 
vision of BisFiop Carrol, of Baltimore, Piimate of America, but in 
that y(;ar the Pope confided them to the care of Abbk Wm. Duhourg, a 
French Lazarist, who had resided for several years in Baltimore, and 
arrived in New Orleans with the appointment of Apostolic Administrator. 
On the twenty-fourth of Septemb(!r,'1815, Abbe Dub(mrg was conse- 
crated the third Bishop of New Orleans, occupying the pjpisco])al chair 
for nine years, at the end of which time he was made Archbishop of 
BesanQon, France, and died there in December, 1833. He was very a 
talented and learned man. 

Tlie day before the Abb6 Dubourg was consecrated Bishop, the twenty- 
third of September, 1815, was devoted to tlie celebration of a solemn 
Thanksgiving in the Cathedral, Avith all the goigeous ceremonies of the 
Catholic Church, for Jackson's victory over the British, and the preser- 
vation of New Orleans. The Abb6 Dubourg had ordered the celebration 



of the City of Nexo (Mean?. 39 



in answer to tlie follovviuji: letter received by liim from (tENEkai, 
Jackson : 

'* Revereud Sir : Tlie signal interposition of Heaven, in givinf;: success 
to our arms against the enemy who so lately hnuled on our shore— an 
enemy as powerful, as inveterate in his hatred, while it must excite, in 
every bosom attached to the happy government under which we live, 
emotions of the liveliest gratitudts reipiires, at the same time, some 
external maiiifestation of those feelings. Permit me, therefore, to entreat 
that you will cause the service of public thanksgiving to be performed in 
the Cathedral, in token of the great assistance we have received from the 
Ruler of all events, and our humble sense of it." 

Gayarre, in his History of Louisiana, gives the following graphic 
description of the ceremonies : "All the citizens, whatever their religious 
creed was, joined their exertions to make that festival as impressive 
as it was in their power. In front of the Cathedral, in the middle of that 
square which is now known as Jackson Square, and wlu-re the equestrian 
statue of the hero now commemorates ids fame and the gratitude of 
Louisiana, a triumphal arch was teujporaril}' erected. It was supported 
by six columns. On the right was a young woman with the attributes of 
Justice, which she repres<^nted, and another, on the left, ]Hnsouated the 
Goddess of Liberty. U)ider the arch two beautiful boys, looking as if 
they were angels dropped from heaven on the pedestals on which they 
stood, held, each in his tiny hand, a crown of laurels. From the arch to the 
church, at proper intervals, were arranged young ladies representing the 
ditterent States and Territories of the American Union. They were all 
dressed in Avhite and covered with transparent veils ; a silver star glittered 
on their foreheads. Each one held in her right hand a flag, on which was 
inscribed the name of the State she represented, and in her left a basket 
of flower- trimmed with blue ribbons. Behind each was a shield 
appended to a lance stuck in the ground, and inscribed with the natne of 
a State or Territory. These shields were linked together with verdaut 
festoons, and formed a kind of lane from the triumphal arch to the gray 
towers of the time-honortd Cathedral. 

" In the real', on both sides, and extending from the entrance of the 
square which faced the river to the church, was a glittering avenue of 
bayonets foiined by the uniform companies of Plauche's Battalion, and 
back of them, in every direction, surged and undulated like a sea of 
human beings the immense multitude assembled to witness the pageantry 
of the day. The boom of artillery and a burst of military music 
annoucned the approach of the hero. The air was rent with acclamations 
and the hands of beauty waved handkerchiefs and flags from the adja- 
cent buildings, which were crowded wirh eager spectators. As General 
Jackson passed under the triumphal arch he was crowned by the two 
youthful genu, who expected him on their pedestals, and was congratu- 
lated in an address delivered by the girl who personated the State of 
Louisiana. Then, as he proceeded to tlie church, the other States and 
Territories gracefully bowed their heads to him, each waving her flag 
and strewing his path with flowers. At the door of the Cathedral he met 
Abbe Dubourg, attended by all his clergy. That venerable personage 
tluis addressed him in terms well suited to the occasion and to the sacred 
character of the orator: 

" * General— Whilst the State of Louisiaiia, in the joyful transports of 
her gratitude, hails you as her deliverer, and the asserter of her menaced 
liberties, whilst grateful America, so lately wrap])ed up in anxious sus- 
pense on the fate of (his important city, the emporium of the wealth of 
one-half of her territory and the true bulwark of her independence, is 
now re-echoing from shore to shoie your splendid achievements, .and 
T)rei)ariug to inscribe your name on her immortal rolls among those of 
her Washingtons, whilst history, poetry and the monumental arts will 
vie in consigning to the admiration of the latest posterity, a triumph, 
perhaps, unparalleled in their records, whilst thus raised by universal 
acclamation to the very pinnacle of fame, and surrounded with ascending 



40 History of the St. Louis Cathedral, 



clouds of iuceuse, how a-Ai^y it had heeu for you, General, to forget the 
Prime Mover of your wonderful success, and to assume to j'ourself a 
praise which must essentially return to that exalted source wlienee 
every sort of merit is derived! But, better acquainted with the nature 
of true glory, and justly placing the summit of your ambition in approv- 
ing yourself the worthy instvunu^nt of Heaven's merciful designs, the 
first impulse of your religious heart was to acknowledge the signal inter- 
position of Providence ; your iirst step is a solejun display of your humble 
sense of His favors. Still agitated at the remembrance of those dreadful 
agonies from which we have been so miraculously rescued, it is our duty 
also to acknowledge that the Almighty has truly had the principal hand in 
our delivereuce, and to follow you, (general, in attributing to His infinite 
goodness the homage of our unfeigned gratitude. Let the infatuated 
votary of a blind chance decide our credulous simplicity ; let the cold- 
hearted atheist look up for the explanation of such im])ortant events to 
the mere concatenation of human causes, to us the whole universe is 
loud in proclaiming a Supreme Ruler, who, as h<^ holds the hearts of man 
in his hands, holds also the thread of all contingent occurrences. ' What- 
ever be His intermediate agents,' says an illustrious prelate, 'still on the 
secret orders of His all-ruling providence depend the rise and prosperity, 
as well as the decline and downfall of empires. From His lofty throne 
above He moves every scene below, now curlnng, now letting loose tlie 
passions of men, now infusing His own wisdom into the leaders of nations, 
now confounding their boasted prudence, and spreading upon their 
councils a spirit of intoxication, and thus executing his uncontrollable 
judgments on the sons of men according to the dictates of His own 
unerring justice.' To Him, therefore, oui- most fervent thanks are due 
for our late unexpected rescue, and it is Him we chiefly intend to praise, 
when considering you, General, as iJie man of His right hand, whom he 
has taken pains to lit out for the im])ortant commission of our defence. 
We extol that fecundity of genius by which, in circumstances of the most 
discoiu-aging distress, you created unforeseen resources, raised as it were 
fi-om the ground hosts of intrepid warriors, and ]irovided every vulner- 
able point with ample means of defence. To Him we trace that instinc- 
tive superiority of your mind, which alone rallied around you universal 
conHdence, impressed one irresistilde movement to all the jarring ele- 
ments of which this political machine is composed, around their their 
slumbering si)irits, and diffused through every rank that nolde ardor 
whicli glowed in your own bosom. To Hijn, in hue, we address our 
acknowledgeinents for that consummate prudence which defeated all 
the combinjitions of a sagacious enemy, entangled him in tlie very snares 
which he had spread before us, and succeeded in effecting his utter 
destruction without iiardly exposing the lives of our citizens. Immortal 
thanks be to His Sujyreme Majesty for sending us su<'h an instrument of 
His bountiful designs! A gift "of that value is the best token of the 
continuance of His protection, the most solid encouragement to us to 
sue for new favors. The hrst which it emboldens us humbly to 
supplicate, as it is the nearer to our throbbing hearts, is that you 
may long enjoy, General, the honors of your grateful country, of 
which you will permit us to present you a pledge in this wi-eath of laurel, 
the ])rize of victory, the symbol of immortality. The next is a speedy 
and honoralile termination of the bloody contest in which we are engaged. 
Xo one has so ethcaciously labored as you, G<'neral, for the acceleration 
of that blissful period. May we soon reap that sweetest fruit of your 
spleiulid and uninterrui)ted victories!' " 

"In this address a just tribute was paid to the merits of General 
Jackson, and to the leading traits of his character, which, in a few 
phrases, Avere accurately delineated. Having received tlie wieath of 
laurel ])resented by the ajjostolic hands of the speaker, the General made 
this modest and felicitous re|)ly: 

"Reverend Sir: 1 leceive, with gratitude and pleasure, the symbolical 
crown which piety has i)repar(!d; I receive it in the name of the brave 
men who have so effectually seconded my exertions for the preservation 



of the Oitij of Nno Orleans. 41 



of their comitry. They well deserve the laurels wiiich their country will 
bestow. For myself, to Jiavt^ been instrumental in tlie deliverance of 
such a country is the jireatest blessiiii? that Heaven could confer. That 
it has been etfected with so litth^ loss, that so few tears should cloud the 
smiles of our triumph, and not a cypress leaf be interwoven in the 
wreath which you present, is a souice of the most exquisite enjoyment. 
I thank you, Keverend Sir, most sincerely, for the prayers wiiich you 
offer u]) for my happiness. May those your patriotism dictates for our 
beloved country be first heaid, and may mine, for your individual 
prosperitv, as well as that of the congregation committed to your care, be 
favorably received ! Tlie ])rosperity, the wealth, the hapinness of this 
city will then be commensurate with tlie courage and other qualities of 
its inhabitants." 

" It is painful to record, that amidst all these rejoicings, there w^ere 
hearts whieli still lemained deeply ulceratedby that military interference 
with the Legislature of Louisiana, on the twenty-eighth of December, 
which many attributed to General Jackson." 

Bishop Dubourg's successor was the Right Reverknd Giuseppi 
ROSATI, D. D., C. M., consecrated March 25, 1824, Bishop of Teuagre, in 
partlbus infidcdiiim, and Coadjutor, and transferred to St. Louis, Mo., 
March 27, 1827. The fifth Bishop of New Orleans was Right Reverend 
Lepn Raymond De-Neckehe, D. D., C. M., a native of Wevelghem, 
Belgium, where he was born on the sixth of June, 1800, his parents being 
M. Charles De-Neckere and Marie Anne Delporte. He was consecrated 
^ Bishop on the twenty-fourth of June, 1830, having been the j^oungest 
man who has sat in the Episcopal chair of New Orleans. His intellect 
and talent gave great promise, but, unfortunately, he died on the fourth 
of September, 1833, a victim to devotion to his afflicted parishoners 
during the great yellow-fever epidemic of that year. He was buried with 
great pomp on the fifth of December, the military and civil authorities, 
and the Church Wardens, with their President, M. Hugues Pedesclaux, 
being in attendance. 

After the death of Bishop De-Neckere the affairs of the Diocese were 
administered by Very Reverend Fathers Sibourg and Jeaujean, until 1835, 
Right Reverend Antoine Blanc, D. D., being consecrated Bishop on the 
twenty-second of November of that year. The consecration ceremonies 
at the Cathedral were on a grand and magnificent scale, befitting the im- 
portance of the event. Bishop Giuseppe Rosati, of St. Louis, formerly 
of New Orleans, officiated, assisted by Bishop Michael Portier, of 
Mobile, and Bishop J. B. Purcell, of Cincinnati. Rev. Father Loras 
acted as Deacon; Rev. Father Constantius Maenhaut, Sub-Deacon; 
Father Jainay, Master of Ceremonies. The other clergy present were 
Fathers Jean Aloysius Leopold Moni, Curate ; Angelo Mascaroni, Au- 
guste Jeanjean, Flavio Henrico Rossi, Marcelo Borella, Joanne Rosti, 
Jean Martin, Joanne Audizio, Hercule Brassac, de St. Aubain, Augustino 

de Angelis, L. Bone, Beauprez, E. Dliaw, Brasseur, Bernardo 

Permoli, Phillipe Asensio, Jacques Marie AugusteBonniot, Paul Armand, 

Kiudelon, Felice de Lopereua, Mullen, Joanne Caretta, 

Floraond, Claude Rampon, Blasio Raho and FranQols Marteaet. Bishop 



42 History of the St. Louis Ca/Iu'dral. 

Blauc was l>orii at f>iirii, France, in 17U2, ordained a priest at 
Lyons in 1817, and after a stay of a sliort wliile, transferred to the 
diocese of New Orleans, and, as tlie Latin inscription on a marble mural 
tablet erected to his memory in tlie Cathedral reads, for seventeen 
years worked witli zeal, prudence and benevolence, under tlie garb of 
a missionary in the vineyard of the Lord, and with constantly increasing' 
zeal and grace. In 1852, the diocese of New Orleans was elevated to an 
archdiocese and Bisliop Blaucreceivedthe PaWiw/wasthe tirst Archbishop 
of New Orleans. After^tvventy-ftve years occupancy of the Bishop's and 
Archbishop's chair, and forty-two years of work in the church, the ven- 
erable Archbishop died suddenly on the twenty-second of June, 1800, 
aged 68 years. 

Up to the year 1842 notiiiug occurred to interfere with the Church 
Wardens in their possession of the Cathedral. Fatiieu Jean Aloysius 
Leopold Moni had succeeded Fatiikk Antoine as Curate, which he 
held up to the time of his death, in 1842, and upon the occasion of the 
nomination of a new Curate to succeed the deceased Father Moni, a 
rupture arose between the Wardens and Bishop Blanc. The Wardens 
claimed the right of patronage, that is, the right of electing a Curate ; 
whereas, the Bishop held that he had the sole right of designating the 
successor to Father Moni. The ma.ter was taken before Judge Maurian, 
of the Parish Court, and thence to the Supreme Court of the State. The 
Wardens were represented by those brilliant legal luminaries, HoNS. 
Pierre Soule, Christian Roselius andMAZUREAU, aud Judge Canon, 
while JuDOES St. Paul and D. Seghers, were the attorneys for Bishop 
Blanc. In the presentation of their case before Judge Maurian, of the 
Parish Court of New Orleans, the petitioners represent: 

" That by an act of the Legislature of the State of Louisiana they were 
created, and are a body politic in fact and law, dc jure ct de facto. That 
the church of St. Louis of New Orleans, belonging to the said body 
politic, was built, linished and expressly ajjpropriated to the use of the 
Catholic ndigion, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundr«;d 
and ninety-four. At that time the said church, destined to replace the 
Parochial Chuich of the same name, which had been erected in New 
Orleans under the French government, was, by competent authority, and 
with the consent of the founder, Don Almonaster-y-lloxas, who had 
cause<l it to be built at his own proper expense, erected iito a Cathedral 
or principal church, to be the seat of a Bisliop's ministerial functions. * * 
* * * Petitioners further allege, that the Catliolics of New Orleans, ever 
since the year eighteen hundred and tivc;, assemljled together, took pos- 
session of the edilice called the Church of St. Louis of New OrhMUs, 
together with all the property ther<'to ai)pertaining, and nominated 
among themselves administrators under tne nanui of waidens, to 
administer all the aitairs and revenues of the said church, together 
Avith all the property to the same belonging. Those Wardens 
have faithfully discharged their duty according to their mandate; 
they nominated the lt(!vereiul Father Antonio de Sedella, their 
Curate of the said church, and to continue to be their Curate. 

After said nomination, a ceitain Amu'; Wausu, styling himself (Jrand 
Vicar, vested with tiie spiritual aihainistration of the diocese of Louisi- 
ana, and claiming the right to nominate the Curate as belonging to 



if the City of New Orleans. . 43 

Iiimself in liis said ciipac'ty, froiiblcd and inolcstcd th<> said Antonio 
dc ScdcUa in \\w ])<)ss(>ssion ol' Ins otHce as Cnrate ; hut a suit Inivin.ir 
been Inoniilit by the Abbe Walsli, as i)bnntifif, a jndiinient was rcndeicd 
by tlie SuiK'rior Court of the Territoiy of Orleans, wliieli totally upset 
the pietentionsof Abbe Walsh, and maintained Father Antonio de Sedella 
in tlie full possession and enjoyiuerit of his oflHce. 

" Posterior to .said jud.n-nient, about the year 1810, another priest, 
known nmler the name of Ar.BE Omviku, stylini;' himself Apostolic. 
Viear, vested by tln^ Hisho]) of Ronie with the s]»iritual administiation of 
the diocese of Louisiana, set uj) tlie same ])retensions from which the 
Abbe Walsh liad been deltarred by the aforesaid jud'4-ment ; that h.' 
endeavored to remove Father Antonio from his oifice, but he dared not 
resort to our tribunals to effect this end. and finding that his assumed 
autliority was not recoi;nized, he contented himself with addressing to 
the General of the ()rder of the Capuchins in the Island of Cuba, a leniithy 
pliillipic, against Father Antonio, Avhich, were it not for the respect 
which is due to the dead, who must be allowed to rest in peace, might 
justly and deservedly be qualilied as a defauiatoiy. false and slanderous 
libel, the original of which was forwarded to Father Antonio 
himself by the said General of tlie Capuchins, whom the author 
of the libellous wriring had requested to order Blither Antonio <>ut 
of his ottice, and retire to the convent to which he belonged in Si)ain. 
Until his death, which took place on the nineteenth of Janiary, 
18'37, Father Antonio coatinued in full and entire possession of his office 
of Curate, without ever being therein disturbed by the Bishops whom it 
pleased the Court of Kome to send to New Orleans. At the death of the 
reverend and jus ly to be regretted Father Antonio, Mgr. Rosati, Bishop 
of the diocese,' nominated by the Pope, then exercised his Episcopal func- 
tions in New Orleans, and .at the same time. Abbe Moni, who was one of 
the Vicars of the Parocliial .and Cathedral (Miurcli of St. Louis, under 
Father Antonio, united the unanimous suffrages of the Catholics of New 
Orleans, and was loudly and publicly proclaimed as the priest who 
enjoyed their utmost conhdem-e, and as thci woithiest, if not the only one 
worthy to succeed Father Antonio as Curate of the said church. In con- 
sequence of this nninifestation of the popular will, and, no doul>t, 
actuated by the i)raisewoithy intention of acceding to the wishes of the 
Catholi<'s, 'Bisho]) Rosati informed the Wardens of the Church of St. 
Louis, then in oflice, that he had elected or nominated Abbe ^loni as 
Curate, to be tlu' successor of Father Antoine, and said nomination, 
however irregular, under the existing laws, was apjuoved by the 
Wardens in terms which clearly evinced the i)erfect undeistanding 
and good feeling then existing between the Wardens and the Bish()p. 
Abbe Moni remained in possession of his oflice of Curate and dis- 
charged its duties until the day when he was com]je11ed to relinquish the 
exercise of his functions by the disease winch caused his death, and, 
at his reqiu'st, Mgr. Antoine Blanc then, and at the present time. 
Bishop, nominated by the Pope, designated another priest, Abrk 
AxDKiGK, to till the' office of Abbe Moni teini)oiarily. Prior to 
that time, and, consetpiently, at the death of Abbe Mfuii, all the 
Bishops, who successively exercised their ministerial functions in this 
country, from the year 182(5, without exce))ting 15ishop Blanc, have 
received a sahny from the Wardens of the Church of St. Limis, ])aid to 
them out of the revenues of the church; but, in January, 1843, Bishop 
Blanc, being no longer satisfied with that salary, deinanded, through the 
medium of a letter addressed to petitioners, tlu^ revival in his favor of a. 
cei'tain right known under the denomination of Cixirfd J£pisc<>i)((l, that is to 
say, he denninded that one-fointh of the i)crquisites ((asual) of the said 
church should IxMillowed him, over ami above his salary. Petitioners, 
thinking they were not authorized to grant tinit dennuid, did not accede 
thereto, aiul thej^ subsequently, sui)pressed the said salary under the 
conviction tliat. in allowing the same, the Wardens had overstepped 
thair powers, and because, inasnnich as liisho]) Blanc never i)reached, 
although the canons ami laws of the church made it his duty to preach, 



44 History of the St. Louis Cathedral, 



lie did not render to the Cluircli of St. Ijonis services equivalent to the 
said salary. 

"At the death of Abbe Moni, the officie of ('urate of the Church of St. 
Louis haviuff l)ecoine vacant. IJishop Antoine IJlanc, setting up ajyaintlie 
pretensions of Abbes Walsh and Olivier, which should not l)e counte- 
nanced inasmuch as the ([uestiou had already been decided by a judgment, 
took upon hiiaself, by virtue of his Ei)i>;coi)al authority, to confer, pleno 
inre, and without consultiug the Wardens, the otfice of Curate of the 
Church of St. Louis on a certain Ahue Rotjssilon, his personal friend, a 
foreigner, a piiest unknowji to the Wardens, and who had no claim to 
their coniidence, for that reasou. and l)ecause tliey could not recognize in 
the Bishop the right of iiouiiiKitioii, the right of ])atrouage, which is 
inherent to the property, they, the Wardens, rejected the nomination. 
Said rejection was immediately followed l)y the publication of a ])astoral 
letter of the Bishop, menacing the Wardens with ecclesiastical censure 
and penalties, and hinting at excommunication for being schismatic, if 
they persisted in their resistance to liis Einscopal authority. Notwith- 
standing the aforesaid pastoral letter, tlu'. Wardens, bi'ing satistied tiiat, 
according to the constitution and laws of this State, ai)plicable to tlie 
subjects in controversy, as well as according to the laws of France and 
Spain, which have not been abrogated and are yet in force, tliey could 
iiot surrender one of their most important privileges and franchises to an 
authority whicli, exceitt in matters of dogma and faith, is not X'e- 
coguized in this State, and emanates from a foreign power, re- 
fused to sul)mit themselves to the arbitrary pretensions of the Bishop. 
In this situation of affairs, wishing to avoid as much as possihbi tlu' 
continuation of tlie contlict of pretentious at war with the i)eace ot tlie 
church, the Wardens consented to accept as their Curate another piiest, 
known by the name of Fatheu Maenhaut, who was designated by the 
Bishop; but, in consequence of the arrogation of certain i)retended rights 
on the part of Father Maenhaut, which your ))etitioners could not 
admit, the said Maenhaut abandoned his functions of Curate, and 
withdrew to the Bishopric (a PcvecJie). The IJisho]) encouragid 
Maenhaut in the steps aforesaid, and had, no doubt advised, 
and at all events approved the assumption of the powers which 
w^ere contested on the part of the Wardens. Afterwards, all tlie 
priests attached to tlie Church of St. Louis were, by the authority of the 
Bisho]), withdrawn from the church, wiierel)y it was deprived, from the 
second of November, 1843, of all religious services, and your jietitioners 
were disabled from discharging the duties imposed upon them by their 
office, to the great scandal of the public, and to the detriment and 
damage of tln^ church and of your petitioners. 

" Afterwards, the true Catholics of this city, having met with a view to 
put an end to the troubles which agitated the ])ublic mind, and to effect 
a good understanding between the Bisho]) and the Church Wardens, a 
comiuittcc, comi)osed of fathers of families and other good Catholics, 
Avas a]>poiiitcd by the meeting, for the i)ui])ose of conferring with the 
respective j)arties, to obtain from them mutual concessions, by means of 
wiiich it was hoped that ])(!a-ce would be re-established. The result of 
the measures was an agreement by which the Bishop renounced his arbi- 
trary iireteusions and consented* to nominate a Curate subject to the 
aiijtroval and disa])proval of the wardens ; that, in consecpience of said un- 
derstanding and in virtue of the same agreement, the Bislio]) nominated 
another })iiest, known by the name of Father Bach, whose nomination 
was a]»j)i<)ved by the Wardens on the twelfth of January, 1843. Father 
Bach rook ])ossession of his odice of (hirate, to which, liowever, the 
Wardens would not have consented, if they had anti(i])ated that it Avas 
his intention to dictate to them other and new conditions, as he after- 
vards attempted l,o do, such as to give to the IJislioj) the i)ower of a])pro- 
val (tv rejection of the taiiff, the rt'solution or deliberation of the 
Wardens lixiiig salari<'s or ])eiquisites of the juiests em})loyed in 
file church. Said pretension, on the part of Fatiiek Bach, liaving 
been rtyected by the Waideus, he continued in the possession of 



of the City of New Orleans. 4i") 



his office until his death, the nineteenth day of September last (1843). 
When Curate Bach died Hisliop Hhine was absent from New Orleans, 
and tlie other i)riests attaelied to tlie Clmrch of St. Louis reniaiued in the 
(lisehar^e of tlieir fuuctious until tliey were all, with the exceptioii of 
one,Avithdriiwn from the eliurch by the Hishoji, in execution of the unlim- 
ited i>owe]'s which he :irro,sated to himself, and for the ]tur])ose of coni- 
pelliuu' your ]K'titioncrs to an absolute surrender of their rijihts. 
t'rnnc"i)iscs. ])o\v(ms and jireroii-ativcs, as Catholics, and as free citizens of 
the United States, who can recognize no other sovereij^nty, except in 
matters of religious doiiuia, than tlmt of the governinent under which 
they live. On the return of the Bishop to New Oilcans, and as soon as 
he was imfornied of the death of tlie Curate Bach, he stated in a 
letter written to your petitioners, that it became his duty to con- 
sider and select from among his priests the one best calculated to 
till the vacancy occasioned by the dt atli of the venerable ('urate Bach. 

That in said letter, which is' dated the tenth of October, 1843, he like- 
wise states to your petitioners: 'One consideration has prevented me 
until now, from stating to you the choice which I have made, and in 
order to obA'iate th(\ same troubles which, during tifteen montlis, afflicted 
the Catholic community, and which must have been as painful to you as 
they were to ine. I have tliought that 't was necessary to determine in a 
pi'e'cise manner what will be the condition of the jiriest whom I shall 
place or appoint as Curate of the Cathedral. This, it appears to me, is 
the only means of putting an end to all ditticulties. In order that a 
priest should exercise his functions of Curate of the Cathedral 
with dignity and propriety, it is necessary that he should have in his 
power tiie records for which he is responsible^,both to families and to his 
Bishop; that he should have the control and choice of the officers and 
assistants in the interior of the church, so that he may exercise his ministry 
without hindrance. That the free use of the jiresbytery should he secured 
to him in such a manner as to be master in his own house, and finally, 
that the taritfor fee bill, which is to be followed by the clergy, should be 
subject to the approbation of the episcopal aiithority.' The Bislio]> con- 
cludes his letter in the following W(nds: 'These propositions being 
made for the sole jjurpose to put an end to all difficulties, I think that 
you will at once accede to them. As soon as your acquiescence is com- 
municated to me, I will at once inform you of the choice which T have 
made. I have the honor to be, etc' 

•'Your petitioners further represent, that they could not but be sur- 

Srised at the extraordinary conditions which the Bishop attempted to 
ictate to them, and which he required them to accept, in order to obtain 
the nomination of a successor to the Curate Bach, whose death had 
deprived the Church of St. Louis of its pastor ; but such was the extraordi- 
nary character of the conditicms, that they were compelled to withhold 
their assent thereto. Resolutions, to which effect, being passed, were 
communicated to the Bishop ; that they could not accede to the preten- 
sions setup by the Bishop, without transcending the powers delegated to 
them by the charter under which they act. ***** Your ])etitioners 
further represent, that after the Bishop had been notified that his proposi- 
tions had been rejected, he addiessed them a letter, dated the twenty- 
second of October last (1843), in Avhich he states, that if tliey persist in their 
resolution, all connection between him and them shall cease, by which he 
clearly intimates, that unless liis extravagant ])retensions are recognized 
by your petitioners, no Curate shall Ix^ ajipointed for the Church of St. 
Louis. In his letter, the Bislio]) endeavors to justify his various preten- 
sions by an elaliorate discussKui, witli a view to induce the Wardens to 
accede to his demands, and concludes by notifying to them that he will 
always assert the exclusive right and iirivilege of appointing all Curates 
and other ecclesiastical dignitaries. This, he pretends, is guaranteed to 

Bishops, by what he calls the common ecdesiastu-al law, which is nothing 
else than what the European Canonists, Jurists and Bishops have always 
denominated tin; ultra montane lair, or otherwise, the purely Papal law, 

which has never been in force, cither in Spain or in France, nor in the 



46 History of the St. Louis Cathedral, 



Americtm colonies, ;ui(l lias at no period been in force iu this State. It lias, 
on the f'oiitraiy, always been resisted and repudiated by the prelates and 
di,<initaries ot the chnrch in those countries where an attenipt has been 
made to introduce it. 

"That, on the first of November, instant, the Wardens informed the 
Bisho]}, throu,iih their ])resideiit, that tliey could not acknowledge his 
unfounded and preposterous ])i'etensions, informing him. at the same 
time, that, in the exercise of their lijilit of presentation ( droit <le patroiKige ) , 
resul ting- from the Spanish ecclesiastical laws, which are still in force in 
Louisiana, so far as not inconsistent with the positive constitutional and 
statutory laws of the State, as well as from the acts of iiic»>r])()ration, 
they have nominated a priest to the Curacy of the Church of St. Tjonis. 
On the third of the same month the Bishop addressed a letter to the 
President of the Wardens, in wliieh he declares, that he cannot and will 
not acknowledg'e the right of the Wardens to make said nomination, 
relying- on a brief or rescript of Pope Leo XII, as evidence (tf his own 
right, and as the only guide to be followed by him as Bishop, and statins: 
that he should consider, as schismatic, any jiriest who should exercise his 
functicms in the church under said api)ointment, which he iiretends is 
radically null, and alleging, that it is impossible foi' him to api>rove the 
uoniiuation, which he calls an act of schism on the i)art of the Wardens, and 
apprising them, that henceforward, the priests olticiating in the church, 
as well as those attached to the obituary chapel, shall cease to be in the 
pay of your petitioners, He concludes by accusing them of endeavoring 
to destroy the luiity of the Catholic Cliurch, and stating, at the same 
time, that he reserves to himself the right of withdrawing, employing and 
changing the priests appointed by him to otticiate in the Church of St. 
Louis, acccndiiig to his own will andjdeasure. 

"And your petitioners further represent, that the language thus used 
by the Bisho]* is indicative of an intenti<m on his iiart to secure to him- 
self a des]»otic and absolute authority, under tlie S]»ecious jn-etext of 
serving tlu; interests of religion, and by that means to extend the secular 
intluence of the Court of liome over this Republic, in violation of all our 
laws and usages, and in violation of our religious liberty, and to make 
the (llvta of tlie Court of Rome, even in temporal matters, ])aramount to 
the constitution and laws of this State. Fully coininced of the inevitable 
tendency of the ])retensions of the Bisho]), and being unable, without 
b(;ing guilty of a (lereliction of duty as Christians and as freemen, and 
without violating the i)rinciples of the P^'ederal and State coiistituti(nis, 
to recognize and admit said exorl)itant pretensions, they have always 
deplored, and still sincerely de])lore the inconceivable and blind obsti- 
nacy with which the Bishoj) persists to uphold said inctensions, and 
especially, the violent and unchristian temper which he displays in de- 
nouncing your ])etitioners and their acts as schismatic. In reality, they 
liave (hine nothing more than exercise their uiKiuestionable right of 
presenlation (droit dc jxitroiuti/c), which right consists simply in jucsent- 
ing to him a Chatholic ])ricst to fullill the functions of ('urate of the 
Church of St. Louis, leaving Jiiin, at the same time, his Episcopal right 
to r<'Ject said ])reseiitatioii, if the nominee do not possess the qualilica- 
tions retiuired to receive from him, the ISishop, the canonical institution, 
without w liicji, the Wardens acknowledge, that such priest could not be 
admitted to exercise his functions in the church. * * * * Your ])etitioners 
further rejucsent, tiiat in llieir capacity of owners, they and their prede- 
(ressoi's, have administered the temporal alfairs of flic churcli, and with 
its revi'iiiies, which, in the beginning, were very inconsiderable, they 
ke})t all the buildings in a i>roi)er state of repair, built the ]>riiiciple 
steeple of the church and c<tnsiructed the gallery known as the tribune, 
When, in 180.~), the first Church Wardens Clected by the Catholics took 
possession of tlie ])roi)erty and commenced tlie administration of the 
affairs of the Church of St. Louis, the real, estate belonging to it cou- 
sisti'd in a s])ace of giound situated on the left side of the church, and 
comprised, between Chartres, St. Anne, Royal and the con«Mnnation of 
Orleans street. Said space of ground was at that time covered with 



of the City of New Orleans. 47 



siDall buildings of luick and wood, of littlt^ or no value, and j'ieldinghnt 
,\ small revenne. The laiiic buildinf;-, wliicli is in part o])p<)site the 
Place (VArniet^, liad oidy lieen commenced, and in the imperfect condition 
in which it then was, beinj;- only laised to the first arches, was nsed by 
beini- temporarily covered with boards by the person to whom it had 
been rented, and produced only a sn.all annual rent. 

" Y<uir i)etitioners, and their predecessors, have caused to be constructed, 
on the wlu)le of said space of ground, all the brick l)uildings, several 
stories high, with which it is now (1844) covered, fronting on St. Anne 
and Koyal streets, and on the place called St. Antoine. The Presbytery 
fronting on St. Antoine Place has likewise been l)uilt by your ])etitioners. 
Before it was erected, and up to the time of tin' death of the llevereud 
Father Antonio ile Sedella, there was nothing l)ut a small frame lH)use, in 
which this woithy })astor resided, and he was the onb' priest attaclied to 
the churcli who was lodged at the exix'use of the churcli. The large 
building fronting on the Flaec (VAniies has been finished and completed 
by your petitioners according to its original ]ilan, and disu'ibuted in sucli 
a manner as to be couvejiiently occupied at first by private individuals, 
and afterwards by some courts of justice in this city. When tlu- public 
desired that all the courts sitting in New Orleans should be held in tlie 
same building, your petitioners, both with a view to confoi-m to the 
public exigency, and to derive a certain annual revenue from the i)ropertv, 
<"vus<'d important additions and alterations to be nnide to and in said 
building, so as to afford convenient halls for the sessions of ditterent 
courts, and for the clerks and sheriffs thereof. 

"The cemetery which was used by the church being too small, and the 
police ordinances no longer permitting that interments should be made 
therein, your petitioners i)urchased, for the use of the church, a. large 
extent of ground, to be use<l as a Catliolic church-j'ard, not far distant 
from RaniiKirt street, which ceuu^tery is still used for the ])urpose afore- 
said. Your petitioners also purchased, foi' the use of tlie Catlmlics 
belonging to the corporation, a U>t of ground situat(Hl on IJanipart street, 
on which they have erected a small chapel or church, called the Obituary 
Chajx'l, an<l also, a convenient dwelling-house for the priests officiating 
in said chapel. Yoni' petitioners further I'epresent, that notwithstanding 
all the foregoing facts and acts of proprietors and pati'ons, in opposition 
to the laws of this State, and with the sole view to su])ersede said laws 
by the rules ot disci])] ine of the Roman Ohurch, called the common ultra 
iHoiitane law, Bishop An'oine Blanc contests the right of your petitlouers 
to do or i)erforni any act, either as patrons vested with tlie riglit of pre- 
.sentation, or otherwise, in the nomination of the priests charged with 
the performance of religious service in the Church of St. Louis, as well 
as in the Obituary Chapel. By his conduct and the influence which his 
station gives him over the minds of a large number of persons incapal)le 
of drawing a. clear distinction between the cause of religion and its min- 
isters, and between that which belongs to the dognui or faith of the 
Catholic religion and those laws which only regulate its discipline, the 
TJishop has caused a deplorable division of opinion aiuong the Catholic 
population of this city, although it was his bounden duty to use every 
eifort in his power to preserve harmony, good feeling, benevolence luid 
charity. 

" Said division has reached to sucli a point, that, recently, a certain 
uumb(;r of persons calling themselves the representatives of tlie Temper- 
ance Society, generally unknown to your petitioners, but, probaoly. 
Catholics, have puldished a vote of censure or disap]n<d)ation, conceived 
in harsh and insulting language, of the conduct and i)retensions of your 
petitioners, and, at the same time, ai)])ioving the conduct and pretensions 
of the Bishop, declaring that they recognized them as just and legitimate, 
and offering their aid and assistance to niaiutain the Bishop in the 
exercise of his pretensions. To the great regret of your petitioners, the 
said Bishop has addressed a letter to the representatives of the 
Temperance Society, published in one of the newspapers in this citjs 
in which he, without regard to the consequences which might flow from 



48 HiHtory of the St. LouU Cathedral. 

such a step, approves of tlie sentiineuts expressed by those individuals' 
and otievs them his ihaiiks. The Bishop, relyiug- ou the ijrotteied sup- 
port (»f said society, and regardless of tlie evils whicli uiay be occa- 
sioned by exciting a degree of exasperation and discontent wliich 
may become fatal to the public peace, has finally witlidraAvu from the 
Church of St. Louis, all the ministers of tlie gospel attached to the church 
since tlie death of the late curate, with tlie exception of Father 
AssENCio, VA'hose exertions, notwithstanding all his zeal and learning, 
are inadequate to the spiritual wants of the Catholics of the Church of 
St. Louis, which, consequently, is deserted. Finally, your petitioners 
i-epresent, that by i^eason, and in conseciuence of the inadnnssable ])re- 
tensions of Bishop Blanc, as well as by his refusal, either to recognize 
the right of nomination or presentation of your petitioners, or to exercise 
said right of nomination himself, subject to the ajiprobation of your 
petitioners, as it has been done during the time of Bishop Eosati, in pur- 
suance of the compromise or agreement made betv.een that Bishoj) anti 
a committee of Catholics refened to above, and also, by the Avithdrawal 
of all the priests from the church except one, your petitioners have 
suffered and sustained damage to a large amount, which has increased hy 
the effect of the libellous and defamatory letter which the Bishop has 
written and published as aforesaid, and that said damages amount to at 
least twenty thousand dollars, for which ]jetitioners pray, together with 
interest and costs of suit, and for such other remedy and relief as the 
nature of their cause, and the particular circumstances of the case may 
require, etc." 

The defendant, through his attorneys, Judge St. Paul and Judge D. 

Seghers, duly entered an exception to the petition and prayed that it he 

dismissed. Tiie exceptions were accordingly sustained by Judge 

Maurian, and the petition dismissed, The case was carried to the 

Supreme Court by the Wardens, a decision reached in the June term of 

1844, and, notwithstanding tlie eloquence and ability of their counsel, 

the judgment of the lower court was affirmed. The decision of the 

court was delivered by Justice Buli.ard in substance, as follows : 

"A vacancy in tlu; office of Curate of the Church of St. Louis of New Or- 
leans, cannot deprive the corporation of the faculty of suing. The Curate 
is an ex-officio member of the Board of Wardens, having but one vote, 
like any other memlier, in its deliberations. The statutes of seventh 
March," 1816, and twenty-second March, 1822, incorporating 'the Wardens 
of the Church of St. Louis, of New Orleans,' do not give the Wardens a 
right to appoint, in the theological sense of the word, a Curate, but onlv 
to provide for his salary ; but they have a perfect right to withhold all 
salary from anv person whatever, and even to prevent one claiming to be 
a Curate froiii entering the church belonsiTig to the corporation. The 
Legislature Imve not, and could not authorize the Wardens to interfere 
in matters of m(>r(^ cl.urch discipline and doctrine, nor constitutionally 
declare what shall constitute a Curate in the Catholic acceptation of the 
word, without interfering in matters of r<!ligious faith and worshi]), and 
taking a iirst step towards a <'hurch estal»lishment by law. A Bishop 
cannot be made liable ^n damages for any expression of opinioii, as to 
the extent of his Kpiscc pal authority, nor f<n- any act or omission in the 
exercise of his spiritual functions. Such acts or omissions violote no legal 
right, nor do they involve any (h'reliciion of legal duty or obligations. 
Courts of Justice enf( rce iivil obligations only— not spiritual ones. 
Malice is of the essence of slander. Unless it be alleged, no action can 
be maintaiiH'd for a lib* 1. A corporation cannot maintain an action for 
slander. The Spanish ecclesiastical laws luive no longer any force in 
this State. The relation between a Bisho]) and the Wardens of a chiirch 
implies'no civil contract, and consequently gives rise to no civil obliga- 
tion. It is not a 'cimtract having for its object the gratification of any 



oj the City of Nt:w Orleans. 49 



intellectual enjoyment, whether in relisjion, morality or taste, or any 
convenience, or other legal gratification,' within the meaning of Art. 
1938, § 3, of the Civil Code. The right to nominate a Curate, or the jus 
patronatus of the Spauisli law is abrogated in tliis State. Tiic Wardtius of 
the Cliurcli of St. Louis, of New Orleans, are authorized to administer 
the temporalities of tlie church, and are responsible only to their con- 
stituents for the manner in whicli they may administer them. Tiiey 
cannot compel the Bisliop to institute a Curate of their appointment, nor 
is he, in any legal sense, subordinate to the Wardens of any one of the 
churches within his diocese, in relation to his clerical functions." 

Messrs. Soule, Canon and Roselius, prayed for a rehearing, urging: 
First — That the riglit of presentation is strictly a legal, or civil right, 
capable of being enforced in a Court of Justice, under the law in force at 
the time the Church of St. Louis was built ; Second — That the change of 
government and repeal of tlie Spanish laws, could not impair the vested 
rights of the plaintiffs and of those under whom they claim ; Third — Tliat 
the rights claimed by tlie plaintiffs are not inconsistent with religious 
liberty, nor in any way incompatible with the institutions and laws of 
the State. The rehearing was refused. Hon. Francois XAviEu Mar- 
tin was Chief Justice, and Hons. Henry Adams Bullard, Alonzo 
MoRPHY, Edward Simon and Rice Garland, Associate Justices. 

In F(;bruary, 1850, tlie principal tower of the CatluMlral fell, injuring 

the roof and walls to a great extent. When the Wardens set about 

having the Cathedral repaired, they concluded to alter and enlarge the 

building to its present dimensions and appearance. It is the prevalent 

erroneous belief that the Cathedral was torn down and rebuilt in 1850. 

This is a mistalce, as it was simply altered and improved, and not rebuilt. 

The following is a description of the Cathedral before its renovation and 

alteration in 1850 : 

"The architecture of the Cathedral is by no means pure, but is not 
wanting in effect on tliis account. The lower story is of the rustic order, 
flanked at each of the front angles by hexagonal towers, projecting 
one-half of their diameter, showing below Tuscan antae at each angle, 
and above pilasters of plain mason-work, in the same style, with tlie an- 
tique wreaths on the frieze of the entablatures. These towers are 
crowned by low si)ires, erected after Latrobe's designs, about A. D. 
1814. The grand entrance to the Cathedral is in the middU^ ot the fr(»nt, 
being a semi-circular arched door, with two clustered Tuscan columns 
on either side. This entrance is Hanked by two smaller doors, similar to 
the yjrincipal one. The second story of the front has the same general 
appearance, as to the same number of columns etc., as the lower oiie, but 
is of the Roman Doric order. Above, and corresponding to tluipiincipal 
entrance, is a circular window, with niches on eitlier side of tlie side 
doors below. On the apex of the ])e<liment of this story rises the princi- 
pal turret, being in the Tuscan style, and in two parts the lower being 
square, about twenty feet in height, with circular apertures on each side, 
the upper hexagonal having a belfry, with apertures on each side for 
letting out the sound, Hanked by antae. The proportions of the order 
are not observed in this bi^lfry, which was erected about 1824 by Le 
Rioiie. The Cathedral has a tenure, to speak in legal pliias<>, of every 
Saturday evening offeiing masses for the soul of its founder, Don An- 
dres Almonaster-y-Roxas, and every evening of that day as the sun sets, 
does the monruful sound of the tolling bell recall his memory to the citi- 
eens." /■ 

In 1861, the year following the death of Archbishop Blanc, Right 



50 History of the St. Loim Cathedral. 

Reverend Jean Marie Odin, D. D., was consecrated Second Aicli- 
bisliop of New Orleans. He had been consecrated Bishop of Claiidiopo- 
lis and Vicnr- Apostolic of Texas, March 6th, 1842, made Bishop of Gal- 
veston in 1817, thence promoted to the Archhisliopric of New Orleans. 
He died at Anihierle, France, May 35tli, 1870, at an advanced age. Arch- 
bishop Odin was a man of singular piety, great devotion to his religion 
and to the cause of hnmanity, and of untiring perseverance. For years, 
when sent to the wilds of Texas, he labored alone and without any aid 
or encouragement, through the greatest trials and tribulations. He was 
very intellectual, of a modest, retiring, refined disposition, and his 
whole life was one of continual sacrifice and good deeds. 

His successor is the present incumbent, the venerable and beloved 
ARCHBISHOP NAPOLEON JOSEPH PERCHfi, D. D., who was born 
at Angers, formerly called Anjou, Capital of the Department of Marnc- 
et-Loire, on the lOtli of Jaunary, 1805, and received his education in the 
city of his birth and adjacent colleges. As a child he was unusually 
precocious, for at the age of four years he could read his native language 
with great fluency, and at fifteen began the study of philosophy. So 
great was his success that he had already at the youthful age of eighteen 
received the appointmeut of Professor of Philosophy, which he held 
until his ordination as priest in 1829. At the age of 34 he was placed by 
his Bishop, Mgu. Moutault-des-Isles, in cJiarge of Murr, a little town 
not far from Angers, the population of which was difficult to lead. The 
young priest, however, won their love and admiration to such a degree 
that more than thirty years after his departuie, as the following striking 
incident shows, the memory of his good deeds was fresh and green in the 
hearts of the towns-people. A missionary priest, belonging to the Dio- 
cese of New Orleans, in a visit made to Finance, met the Vicar of Murr, 
the Abke Boitteau, who said to him : — "Come and preach in our church." 
''What," replied the humble missionary, ''I preach in your church ! What 
are you thinking of? It is impossible." "On tlu^ contrary," answered 
the Abbe, "you have only to talk about tlie Ahhe Peuche to the people 
of Murr ; tell them that he is your Archbishop, that you have hani sent 
by him to them. Tliat name is held in reverence by them ; it will pro- 
duce a magical effect ; they will be touched, moved , they will listen to 
you witli more attention, more sympathy, tliiin if you were to talk of 
God, of the Holy Virgin or of the Saints ; the Abbe Perche is everytliing 
to them — he is more than the good God himself!" The young Abbe 
Perche afterwards exercised his ministerial functions for some time at 
Turquand, and at the Prison of Fontevrault with equal success. Having 
been given charge of several houses of the Dames du Bon-Puftciir (La- 
dies of the Good Sliepherd) he remodelled and strengthed the organiza- 
tion, malcing it more compact and useful than it ever had been before. 
Mgr. Flaget, Bishop of Bardstown, Ky., made in 1836, a trip to France 
for the purpose of securing preachers for missionary work iu Kentucky. 
The young Abb6 Perche was the first to offer his services, and the year 



of the City of New Orleans. 51 

interv'^ening- between his departure for new fields of labor he occupied in 
studying- diligently, m prepuration for the work that awaited him. In 1837 
he arrived in the United States, and was stationed by Mgr. Flaget at Port- 
land, Ky. His first task was to acquire a thorough knowledge of the 
English language, which he succeeded in doing in a very short time. 
For four years he labored zealously, and implanted himself as deeply in 
the good graces of his flock as he had in those of the people of Murr in 
his native coi,intr3\ Desirous of building a church, and not securing 
sufficient funds for the purpose, he conceived the idea of coming to NeW 
Orleans, and obtained from Mgr. Blanc permission to preach and to col- 
lect money. This was in 1841, when he was only 36 years of age. He re- 
turned to Portland with the necessary sum, but so favorable an im- 
pression had he made upon the Bishop and i)eople of New Orleans, that 
the former engaged him to return to New Orleans, where he has re- 
mained ever since. Taking an active part in the celebrated contest be- 
tween Bishop Blanc and the Church Wardens, in 1843, in which he was 
an enthusiastic defender of the Bishop, he founded a journal for the pur- 
pose of giving force and dignity to his writings ; that journal is Lc Prop- 
agateur Cathollqne, the organ of the Catholic Church in Louisiana. In 
1842 Abbe Perche was made Chaplain to the Ursuline Nuns, which ho 
he'd for twenty-eight years, receiving in 1870 the appointment of Coad- 
jutor to Archbishop Odin, cum jure succes>iiouis. He was consecrated ou 
the 1st of May of the same year, suci-eeding to the Archbishopric on the 
death of that good man, and receivcMl the PaWfiou from Pope Pius IX, 
in December, following. Though bending under the weight of years 
and the enfeebling strokes of recent severe illness, he is charm- 
ing in nmnner and conversation, and his actions are at once char- 
acterized by humility, intelligence, ])rofound knowledge of the 
world, and sociability. His Coadjutor and Apostolic Administrator of 
Temporal Aftairs is the RmiiT Hkverend Francois Xavieu Lekay, 
D. D., who, in the event of the venerable Archbishop's death, will be his 
successor. Bishop Leray was consecrated Bishop of Natchitoches, April 
23d, 1877, and appointed Coadjutor of New Orleans and Bishop of Jano- 
polis, inpnrfihus iiifidclinm, October 33d, 1879. 

From 1844, when the Supreme Court decided in favor of Bishop Blanc, 
but recognized anew the right of the Church Wai-dens, to the temporal 
administration of the Cathedral, until tlie 1st of July, 1871, the Wardens 
continued to discharge their functions without molestation. They re- 
paired and partly reconstructed the Cathedral, met all the expenses, 
salaried the Bishop, the Curate, the Priests, and provided for all the 
incidental expenses of the Church. In 1871 they rented, or rather 
ceded, the Cathedral to Archbishop Perche for ten years, he to receive 
all of the revenues, out of which he was to pay the expenses. Thid 
lease expired on the 1st of July, 1881. Finally, in 1878, the Abbe Milhet, 
in the name of His Grace, the Archbishop, raised new pretensions re- 
lative to the right of the Archdiocese to the Cathedral property. 



History of the St. Louin Cathedral. 



Judge Paul E. Theard, attorney for the Cliurcli Wardens and liini- 
8elf a member of that body, investigated tlie matter, and fonnd that there 
was no fonndalion whatever for the claims of the clergy. The pre- 
tensions of the latter were, accordingly, not acceded to by the 
Wardens, who declared their unwillingness at that particular 
moment to transfer their property to the Church, owing to the 
tinancial embarrassments of the Archdiocese. Subsequently, how- 
ever, the Wardens, having gone into liauidatiou, the Cathedral 
and its appanages were, by authentic act, made over to Arch- 
bishop Perchd and Bishop Leray, jointly, as representatives of the 
Roman Catholic Church in this Archdiocese. They assumed the pay- 
ment of tlie only debt of the Wardens, viz., an annuity of $500 to an old 
colored woman by the name of Fanny Magek, who died about six 
months ago, at the advanced age of 87 years. The history of this anmx- 
ity is as follows : On the 5th of July, 1845, the President of the Board of 
Wardens was authorized by a resolution of the Board to accept, in their 
name, tlie sum of $8,000 belonging to the negress, Fanny Mager, who 
had inlnuited the same from her master, Jean Mager ; the Wardens bind- 
ing themselves to pay monthly to the said Fanny Mager, during her life- 
time, a yearly sum of $500. This contract proved most onerous to the 
Wardens, as the old woman lived longer than had been bargained for. 
Up to the time of the transfer made by the AVardens, she had already i-e- 
ceived $17,500. 

The following ])ieces of property at present constitute the appanages 
of the Cathedral: Of the block of buildings bounded by Royal, Chartres, 
St. Anne streets, and St. Antoine Alley, which the Wardens had erected 
upon th(>, plot of ground at the left of the Cathedral, only the Presby- 
tery remains to the Catliedral. The Court Building was sold to the city, 
and the other buildings were included in the tninsfer to the Arch- 
diocese of the Catholic Church of New Orleans. 

The St. Antoine Obituary Chapel on North Rampart street, corner 
of Conti, ei-ected by the Wardens, now St. Anthouy's Italian Church, 
Rev. J. A. Manoritta, Pastor. I'he history of this Chapel is as follows: 
On account of the great increase in the i)()i)ulation of the city, and 
of course tiie increased number of interments, objection was made about 
the year 1832 to the performance of the services for the dead at the 
Cathedral, on account of its very prominent and public situation. Under 
these circumstances the city made a grant of land at the corner of Conf i 
and Rami)art streets, to the Board of Wardens of the Churc^h of St. 
Louis, on condition of their erecting upon the same, a chapel as a place 
for the exposition of the bodies a^nd performance of the funeral ceremo- 
nies in conformity to the Catliolic ritual. In i)ursuance with this inten- 
tion, a cross, marking th(^ jjicsent site of the altar of tlie Chaix'l was 
pla(;ed with proi)er ceremonies on the 10th of October, 182G, and on the 
following morning the building was begun. Its erection was vigorously 
prosecuted, at the expense of the Board of Wardens of the Cathedral, 



of Ike City of Netv Orleans. 53 

aud completed within a year alter its commencement at a cost of about 
$16,000. It is a plain but neat edifice, and is dedicated to the most holy 
St. Anthony of Padau, as patron saint. All funeral ceremonies of 
Catholics were for a long time performed here. It was included in the 
transfer made by the Wardens to the Archdiocese. 

The Battcke Lots faciuj? the square bounded by Front, Peters, Robin 
And Henderson streets, and those facing the corner of Henderson and 
Front streets, in the square bounded by tliose two streets, Roffignac and 
Peters streets, which were acquired by a legacy of Stephen Henderson^ 
and which are rented for thirty years to Samuel Boyd, dating from June 
1st, 1874, for nothing for the first six years, and after that period, at a 
rental repesenting the interest on the value of the said lots at the rate of 
•8 per cent, per annum ; a value to be fixed by the Mayor and the Judge 
of the Second District Court, every twelve years, that is in May, 1880, 
and in May, 1893. 

St. Antoine Square, in the rear of the Cathedral. 

The Cemeteries— No. 1, Bounded by St. Louis, Conti, Liberty and 
Basin streets, which belongs to the Cathedral, in virtue of a French con- 
cession dated 1744; No. 2, bounded by Customhouse, St. Louis, Robert- 
eon and Claiborne streets, three squares originally donated to the CJiurch 
Wardens by the City Council on May 3d, 1823. For a long time there 
have been no burial sites for sale in either of these cemeteries. The Sex- 
ton of the former is Moise Rodriguez, and of the latter, J. F. Callico. 
Finally, the Esplanade Cemetery, on Esplanade street, near Bayou 
St. John, part of a large tract acquired from Mr. Felix Labatut, in virtue 
of resolutions adopted by the Board of Church Wardens on the 5th of 
June, 1849. In this cemetery there are still left a large number of burial 
«ites and lots for sale. H. Bienvenu is the Sexton. 

The Archdiocese of New Orleans, comprises Louisiana, between 
the 29th and 31st degrees of north latitude, and has a Catholic i>opulation 
of about 250,000. Its jurisdiction extends over the Dioceses of Mobile. 
Ahi., erected in 1826; Natchez, Miss., erected in 1837; Little Rock, Ark. 
erected in 1843; Galveston, Tex., erected in 1847; Natchitoches, La., 
erected in 1853; and San Antonio, Tex., erected in 1874; and the Vicar- 
iate Apostolic of Brownsville, Tex., established in 1874. 

MoNSEiGXEUR Chalox, wlio W!is Curate and Prothonotary during 
Arclibishop Odin's administration, and who died at Lyons, France, last 
spring, w\as the last Priest to hold the office. His immediate prede- 
cessors were Fathers Bach, Maenhaut and Duqiiesnay. Very Rev- 
Fatlier Riymond was Vicar General with Fatlier Chalon, and Fathers 
Milhet, Ferrec and Mignot were the latter's assistant priests. Father 
Mii.HET afterwards became Vicar-General and Administrator of the 
Ar(^lidiocese under Arclibisliop Perche, but died of yellow fever in the 
epidemic of 1878. Father Feruec was accidentally drowned about six 
^ears ago in Lake Poutchartrain while bathing. He was a fine swimmer, 
but a sufferer from heart disease, which had been increased by his arduous 



54 Hidory if the St. Louis Cathedral, 



labours at Shreveport during tlie yellew fever epidemic of 1873. Vekt 
Rev. Father Hyacinthe Claude Mignot, tlie only one of the two 
surviving, is now Canon of the Cathedral. As a Priest he is zealous and 
devoted to his religion, and as a man respected and liked by all for his 
urbanity and sociability. Upon the deatli of Father Chah>n the office of 
Curate was merged witli that of Archbishop, and His Grace, Archbishop 
Perche, was the first to act in the dual capacity. 

The present Vicar-General of the Archdiocese of New Orleans is 
Very Rev. G. A. Rouxel, the Chancellor is Rev. H. M. Le-Cozic, and 
the Archieynscopal Council is composed of Bishop Leray, Coadjutor; 
Very Rev. Rouxel, V. G.; Very Rev. B. Neithart, C. SS. R., and Rev. J. 
B. Bogaerts. Very Rev. Father Rouxel is also Administrator of St. 
Louis Cathedral, and Rev. Fathers .Mignot, M. Palaier and J. M. Ber- 
RONET, assistants. Rev. Father Le-Cozic is Pastor of St. Mary's Chapel, 
at the Archbishop's residence (the old Ursuline Convent) and Revl 
Father Theophilus Beanc-G arin, assistant. The Keeper of the Parochial 
Archives is M. L. D. De-Jaham, with his office at tlie Presbytery. 
Within the mouldy covers of the archives are tlie baptismal records of 
bur most prominent and illustrious citizens, among them tlie worthy gen- 
tleman just retiring from the Mnyoralty. The record shows that Joseph, 
the son of Samuel Siiakspeare, a native of Baltimore, Md., and M;iri- 
anna Mathis, a native of Neuville, Switzerhmd, was born in New Or- 
leans on tlie 12tli of April, 1837, and baptized in i\\G Cathedral on the; 20th 
of July following by Rev. Father Bernardo Permoli, Vicar of the Cathe- 
dral, The god-parents were M. P. de Ansoatzgui and Mine. Maria Do- 
lores de Ansoatzgui, nee Martinez. 

Tlie remains of the celebrated curate, Father Antoine, and many of 
his successors in office, lie buried under the floor of tlie vestry in the 
Cathedral, back of the altar of Notre Dame de Lourdes. Underneath 
the marble pavement of the Cathedral, in front of this altar and on the 
side opi)osite the grave of Don Alnionaster, lie the remains of three cav- 
aliers, of noble descent, whose names are prominent in the earh' annals 
of Louisiana. They are, as the French inscription on the marble slab in 
the floor relates: Francois Philippe de Marigny de Mandeville, 
founder of the old Creole families of Marigny and Mandeville. He was 
a Chevalier of the Royal and Military Order of St. Louis and J/ryV>rr?fl 
Place, of New Orleans, born at Bayeux in Normandy, and died in New 
Orleans, Nov. 1st, 1728. The second is the son, Antoine Pliilippe, Cheva- 
lier of the Royal and Military Order of St. Louis, and Captain of In- 
fantry in the service of France; born at Mobile, Feb. 28th, 1722 ; died 
in New Orleans, Nov. 6th, 1779. And lastly, the son of the preceding, 
Pierre Philippe, Chevalier of the Royal and Military Order of St. Louis 
and Captain of Infantry under the Spanish Government, born in New 
Orleans, June 15th, 1751, died May 11th, 1800. 

Francois Philippe de Marigny-de-Mandeville, the founder of tliG 
family, was one of the founders of the Territory of Louisiana. He was 



Hisl'jvy of the St. Louis Cathedral, 55 



appointed Commander of Fort Conde jit Mobile in 1723, and ofone of 
the ten companies of French soldiers in the Colony of Louisiana in 1724, 
In 1759, Rochemore, the new Intendant Commissary of the Territory, ac- 
cused Gov. Kerlerec of participating in an illegal and corrupt trafKc 
with the Indians, secretly carried on under cover of the Governor's Sec- 
retary, Titon-de-Sibeque, and of extravagance in his expenses, and com- 
plained to the liome government accordingly. On account, however, of 
certain gross irregularities of his own, and his opposition to Gov. Ker- 
lerec, Rochemore, was dismissed fiom office, and his numerous support- 
ers treated with severity by the Frencli Government, many being dis- 
missed froin office and sent back to France by Kerlerec. Such a ddmor 
had been raised, however, against Kerlerec, and so assiduously did 
they work for the re-instatemcnt of Rochemore in the Royal favor, that 
they succeeded in having the Ministerial order dismissing the Commis- 
sary from office suspended for the nonce. Among these ardent sup- 
porters of Rochemore, Autoine Philippe, the second Marigny-de Mande- 
ville, then an officer in the French Marine troops sent to Louisiana, was 
one of the most active and influential. While afterwards in Paris, he 
memorialized the Prime Minister, the Duke de Choiseul, to know the 
cause of the ill-treatment inflicted upon him, and accused Kerlerec of 
abuse of power and other violations of duty. Annexed to the memorial 
was a certificate from Rienville and one fiom de Vaudreuil, under whom 
he had served, comtnendiug him in tlie highest terms. 



Ii;RRiLT_A.. 



Page 15 — Line 14 — For tliem ihcmsdvcs read themselves. 
Page 16 — Line 5 — For St. Ignatius read St. Louis. 
Page 21— Line 38— For fiill read Bull. 
Page 32— Line 23 — For heartij read haii(/htfj. 
Page 23 — Line 38 — For fiincfuar!/ vi^ad fiiiictionaj'y. 

Page 27— Line 33— For Fatlier Antonieda Sedella read Father Antonio 
de Sedella. 
Page 30 — Line 16 — For execpied read accepted. 
Page 31 — Line 31— For Begidros read Regidors. 
Page 33 — Line 19 — For Le-Leonarda read Leonarda. 
Page 33 — Line 10 — For oft his read of this. 
Page 34 — Line 19 — For Cardenes read Cardenas, 
Page 35 — Line 13 — For hosjj read hoys. 
Page 35 — Line 32 — For maturiti/ rend morality. 
Page 35— Line 38— For did read died. 
Page 38 — Line 39 — For was i^cry a read was a very. 
Page 39 — Line 44 — For genu read genii. 
Page 40 — Line 37 — For around read aroused. 



86 ADVERTISEMENTS. 



LOUISIANA 

TELEPHONE 

COMPANY, 

Licensee for tlie States of Louisiana and 
Mississippi. 

EXEOQTIVE OFFICE, 47 GAMP STREET, 

NEW ORLEANS. 
JNO. N. BOFING-ER, President. 
W. H- BOFING-ER, W. W. HUCK, 

Vice President and Gen'l Manager. Secretary and Tresisurer. 



Complete information given for establishing Telephonic communication 

in, or between Towns, Plantations, Stores, Residences, Stations, 

Landings, etc., etc. 

TELEPHONE EXCHANGES: 

New Orleans, Columbus, 

Vicks b urg, Gre en ville, 

Natchez, Jackson, 

Shreveport, Baton Rouge, 

Meridian, Yazoo City, 

Aberdeen, Monroe, 

Other Telephone Exchanges will be established in cities and towns 
where business will warrant. 



ADVERTISMENTS. 57 



THE ONLY PLACE TO BUY YOUR SHIRTS. 



OWING TO THE 

Tremendous Sales of Shirts, G-ents' Furnishing 
Groods and Hats, 

withiu the past twelve months, we have this season extended our estab- 
lishment and have now added an exclusive 

SHIRT AND HAT DEPARTMENT, 

We are Sole Agent for the following Brands — 
The Hazel Shirt, Price 75 cents, 

The Boss Shirt, Price 75 cents. 

The Celebrated "Peerless" Shirt, Price One Dollar 

The "Hazel" and "Boss" Shirts, at 75 cents, are better {roods, than you can 
buy anywhere on tlie continent for One Dollar. 

They are re-inforced Linen Bosoms, Linen CufTs, Superior Cotton aud of 

Excellent Make. 

THE "PEERLESS" SHIRT is already spoken of in every household. 

Pleuse note its construction : 

Three Ply Linen, re-inforced Bosom, Wamsutta Cottun and best make ever put is 

any garment ! We guarantee a PERFECT FIT. Price one Dollar— 

ACTUAL WORTH $2 50. 

6ee them, or send for one. You will pronounce them the "Greatest Wonder 

of the A^e." No lady will ever make a shu-t after she has seen 

" OUll PEERLESS" and cousidered the merits and price 1 

—WE HAVE ALSO— 

I^ar-e ISarg-aiiiJs in Dry <3roo<l». 

Comprising every Article Appertaining to that line, including 

'THE SEASON'S LATEST NOVELTIES." 
Ladies Underwear^ Corsets and Hosiery a Specialty, 
M. LEHMAN, 

4SS. ^Sr, - I>KYAr>E!S STREET, - 4SS, 455^ 

NEW ORLEANS, 



58 ADVERTISEMENTS. 



This page donated by the compiler to the 

CHRISTI^Isr 

WOMANS' EXCHA NGE 

—FOR— 
-SALESROOMS— 

Nos. 41 & 43 BOURBON STREET, 

ONE BLOCK AND A HALF BELOW CANAL STREET, 
Always on liand and made to order all Styles of 

IPlmin amd Ornmimental Needle Work, 
Crocheted and Wancy Articles, 

Doors opan at 7 a. m., close at 6 p. m. Breakfast from 7 to 11. Luncji 
11 to 3. Dinner 3 to 6 p. m. 

MEALS served to order; SPECIAL DISHES sent to any part of the city; 
LUNCHES packed for travelers; DELICACIES prepared for invalids, 

BEST HOnVE EI-3i^.A.IDE BK,EA.r), 

Cakes, Ice Cream, Preserves, Jellies, Cordials, Pickles, Catsups, Sauces, 
and Yeast Cakes constantly on hand. Orders solicited. 

Hotels, Clubs, or Private Families supplied with FRESH BREAD 
DAILY. 

Reserved for competent Teachers in French, Kensinj^ton Embroidery, 

Drawing and Painting, Cutting and Fitting, etc. 
A full Supply of 

English Embroidery, Silks, Cruels, Commenced Work, etc., 

Will be kept constantly on hand. 

ETBenefits of this Association OPEN TO ALL WOMEN without 
regard to religious belief. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



59 



This page donated by the compiler to the 



I MEi^r 







P^«^» 



■^^P^M CttfM 



PEYT^lSriA. STREET, 



Bet. Aline and Foucher sts., Sixth District, NEW ORLEANS. 



mwjkww ? 



.Br, F, LOEBEM, Surgeon, 



Br. M. M, RICH A MB, Ass'i 



Dr. I. L. CRAWCOUR, Dr. W. H. WATKINS, 

Dr. D. C. HOLLIDAY, Dr. E. T. SHEPARD, 

Dr. JOS. HOLT. 



j|@°'The Infirmary is now ready to receive PRIVATE 
PATIENTS, wlio may be treated either by the Hospital 
Staff or by Physicians of their own selection. 



60 ADVERTISEMENTS. 



This page donated by the compiler to the 

SOXJTHERlSr 

III liloi i WmmM^ Iiiiitf lil 

2m CANAL STUMMT. NEW OELEANa 



ROBT. MOTT, President, JOHN CRIGHARD, Secretary, 

MILTON C. RANDALL, Treasurer. 



The following classes are now in operation: 

1. Classes in Drawiu!^ and Painting, 

2. Classes in Water Color Painting, 

3. Classes in Linear Perspective and Architectural Drawing. 

4. Classes for Children in Drawing. 

5. Classes in Painting on China and Silk. 

6. Classes in Kensington Emhroidery, Church Embroidei y and 
Macrame Lace. 

7. Classes in STENOGRAPHY. 

8. Classes in BOOK-KEEPING. 



MISS HENBIBTTA WINANT, 

of New York is now teaching the following classes: 

CLASS IN DESIGN— Monday and Thursday, from 2 to 4 
o'clock. Terms three dollars per month 

CHARCOAL .DRAWING, From the Object —Wednesday and 
Saturday from 10 to 12 o'clock. Terms three dollars per month. 

CHILDREN'S DRAWING CLASS— From the Orjeot— Tuesday 
and Friday, from 3 to 5 o'clock. Terms three dollars per month. 

OIL AND WATER COLOR PAINTING— Tuesday and Friday, 
from 10 to 12 o'clock Terms Four dollars per month. 

PAINTING ON CHINA AND SATIN— Monday and Thursday, 
from 10 to 12 o'clock. Terms six dollars per month. 

For pupils in one family, and to pupils taking more than one class 
a reduction will be made. 

There will bo a monthly exhibition of pupils' work to show th® 
progress made. 

B®-ALL TUITION FEES PAYABLE IN ADVANCK-^a 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



61 



»ii«@k; 



nm\ ,f\i<' 



Joseph St., Bst. Coliseum and Chestnut, New Orleans. 




.•/. fV'Jl C'< L.I\H. A." 



Oralis TUNED, REPAIRED, REVOICED :ni<l ENLAtiGED, in city or 
country, at Modeiatc; rates. Ycnrly tnniiiii: taken by Contract. 
Specifications for Organs of any magnitude and description tnrmshea 
on application. 
Send for price List and Circular. 
Best of references and testimonals. 

PILCIIER BROTHERS, New Orleans. 



62 ADVERTISEMENTS. 




NKVSr ORLKANS. 



Faculty of 25 Professors. 494 Students in Atten- 
dance During Past Session. 



Fifth session of Collegiate Dej)artment began October 2, 1882. 
Full collegiate courses in Languages, Belles Lettres and Sciences, 
leading to degrees. Adjunct High School to prepare students for 
Collegiate Department. Faculty of 12 professors and 250 students in 
Collegiate Department aad High School during last session. Tui- 
tion fee, $45 per annum in High School and $50 in Collegiate De- 
partment, including full course in Languages, Mathematics, Chemistry, 
Physics and Mechanics. 

For further information and catalogue, address 

K. H. JESSE, Dean. 



Session of Medical Department began October 15, 1882. Full 
Medical Courses with special advantages. Nine professors and 
217 students in Medical Department during the past session. Ad- 
dress for details, 

T. G. RICHAEDSON, M. D., Dean. 



Session of Law Department began November 13, 1882. Full 
courses in Common and Civil Law. Four professors and 27 students 
during past session. For details address 

CAELETON HUNT, LL. D., Dean. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



63 



m m 



ml 





nm i^^^H N^ 



© 




^' 



^-. 




W> 



116 and 118 Constance Street , bet. Julia and St, 



Joseph Streets. 



D. ESTE REYNOLDS, Proprietor. 



—DEALER IN— 






m 






'^^^ 



NEW AND SECOND-HAND SCHOOL BOOKS, 

371 DRYADES STREET, New Orleans. 






Music Books Nmatjly Bound. 



04 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



Al («^ 



vS^^*'"''^«S2i^ \^g^j^^ ""^S^^* |>| 





^mxx^w \?J\^^cv^vm\\\\\\\\^ ^v^^'^ 







No, 132 MOYAL Stmeet, 



Cor. Toulouse, 



NEW ORLEANS, 



Vx^^^V.VAV' vwwwwww 







STEAM SCREWED AND SEWED 





s^lE! 






"^b \5^ISP''' ^^^^^^^ ^H^"" ^^^^^'^5 




il 







'M.MM'^W^Q^OW.'^, 



WHOLESALE AND RETAIL, 



^@, ISO moT^M^SA m'sm^MS, 



Bet. Toulouse and St. Peter. 



NEW ORLEANS, 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



681^ 



a'ut^^m ^mt: 



'^W> 



I 



4 Tn'^r^T'TA 



:^ m 



aa ^ as P.aismss ©imm^ 



Near Camp. 



NEW ORLEANS, LA, 




%tk liliii 



f 



Would respectfully inform the public that haviii.2; taken 

up his residence PERM/VNENTLY IN NEW 

ORLEANS, he is prepared to receive 

For instruction on the 

Mesidence^ 471 St,^ Charles Avenue. ■ 



«6 



ADVERTISMENTS. 



m^vi^.m 



LR^^^^ ® 



m< 



mmK 












WILL RE-OPEN JUNE 1, 1883. 



All the Mouses will be put in first-class 



condition aficl additional new ones 



erected. 






Fin Fishing. Splndid Caisin. 



Delicious Sea Breeze, 



For further information apply to 

JOHN F. KRANZ, Proprietor, 

71 & 73 South Front street, NEW ORLEANS. 



ADVERTISEMENTS 



OT 



i % 






—DEALER IN— 



:^l 



Itapls mi ifmQj |ii@einj 



.^ 



i/f€S, piquets /^cbacco, ^'i^cir4,^it,f 



Villere Street^ near Canal Street Ferry Landing, 
Algiers, La. 



Has on hand a fine Stock of Fresh Goods, which he is selling at city 
prices, and in city style. 



Mk^i 



W V 9 €k W^ CBa^l^^^^^.% 

—DEALER IN— 
STAPLE AND FANCY 



Ssr 






^W> 



Mattings, Carpets, Oil Cloths and Rugs, 



3 oRir<^0ss mw^^mmv^ 



Between Thalia and Erato Streets, 



NEW ORLEANS. 



F. FREDERICKSON, 

Druggist and Chemist, 

139 CANAL STEEET, near Bourbou Street, 

Touro Baikliuss. NEW ORLEANS. 

— A full Stock on liaiul ot — 
Drugs, Soaps, 

Medicines, Toilet Aiticles, 

Fiencli and American Elastic Hose, 

Patent Medicines, Electrical Batteries, 

Perfumery, Surgical Instruments, 

Etc., Etc. 

Amonj" Proprietary Medicines the attention of the public is drawn to : 

BARNETT'S lODO-SARSA, 

THE CELEBRATED BLOOD PURIFIER. 

COXE'S EXTRA.CT 

OF COPAIBA, SARSAPARILLA AND CUBEBS. It is now universally 

called "THE REMEDY," for complaints of the Kidneys and 

kindred diseases. 

LIEBIG S EXTRACT OF MALT- 

PURE. 

BERG-EN COD LIVER OIL, 

With soluble Phosphate of Lime, always freshly prepared. 

Orders by Mail, Wholesale or Retail, promptly attended 

to. 

Addross— ~ 

F. FREDERICKSON, 

139 Canal Street, 

New Orleans. 



r) 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



TiiK "Mamie Wood." 



WOOD, WIDNEY & CO.. 

BATON ROUGE, LA. 



SHAKSPEARE 

IRON WORKS, 

GIROD STREET, BE P. BARONNE AND DRYADES, 

Now Orleans, La. 
— Manufacture Every Variety of — 

STEAM ENGINES, VACUUM PANS, 

SUGAR MILLS, SAW MILLS, 

DRAINING AND CENTRIFUGAL MACHINES, 

MILL AND GIN GEARING, 

GRATE BARS, ETC 

Store Fronts, Coliirnn«, A^eritilators. 

—AGENT FOR— 

KNOV/LKS PUMP. 



005 077 337 1 

B. D. WOOD. JOAN A. WOOD. " u. vV'»ui.. 

B. D. ^VOOD & BROS., 

COAL MERCHANTS, 

No. 25 C'",^^, >», Cor. Common Sts., 

Opposite City Hotel, NEW ORLEANS, LA. 

Branch Office, Foot of Gravier Street. Coal Yard, Foot of Race Street. 
Tug- Boats "Charlie Wood" and W. M. Wood." 



LIBFW^Y OF CONGRESS 




005 077 337 1 



